Bellevue (WA) council votes for multi-use trail, not bike lanes

By a vote a 5-0, the City Council directed the staff to find ways to fund the estimated $20 million project. Earlier in the meeting, a bicycling advocate had testified that Bellevue would find it difficult to compete for funds because the project didn't meet generally accepted professional standards concerning bicycle facilities.

(Click here to find a web page with links on the West Lake Sammamish Parkway bike lane issue and previous articles.)

Voting in favor were Mayor Connie Marshall and councilmembers Claudia Balducci, John Chelminiak, Grant Degginger, and Conrad Lee. Absent were Phil Noble and Don Davidson.

Recapping the more than year's worth of studies and workshops that went into the city's plan, Marshall told the bicyclists in the audience, “This alternative gives you more than you have today.”

More than 50 people attended Monday's City Council meeting, many of them bicyclists wearing orange tags printed with the number “4,” a reference to the parkway improvement option that included bike lanes.

Residents of the West Lake Sammamish neighborhoods also attended. They had originally petitioned the City Council to do something about dangerous traffic conditions on the 5.5-mile two-lane road.

One of the most contentious issues on improving West Lake Sammamish concerned what to do with bicyclists, many of whom use the road when riding between Bellevue and Redmond (the city says on average 60 use it on weekdays, and up to 200 on sunny weekend days). Today, there is no shoulder for northbound cyclists.

The city staff's plan calls for making a four-foot shoulder on the northbound traffic lanes, and a 8- to 10-foot multi-use trail on the southbound shoulder. This trail is to be marked for use by both northbound and southbound bicyclists, as well as pedestrians. For about the half the distance, it will be separated from southbound traffic by a low border.

Cascade Bicycle Club opposed the plan, saying mixing cyclists and pedestrians on the same path and encouraging cyclists to ride against traffic is dangerous, especially at intersections. The club issued an advocacy alert, which prompted both sides to flood city hall with letters and emails.

Presenting the plan at Monday night's meeting, senior project manager Nancy LaCombe said the 4-foot eastside shoulder (northbound) would take the faster northbound cyclists out of the multi-use trail and put them on the eastside shoulder. It would be marked “No Parking,” but she didn't know whether stormwater drainage channels and grates would be placed there.