Bellevue Council Can Mitigate East Side Congestion

The February 2020 “Bellevue Its Your City” included a “Choose Your Way Bellevue” with “Countering congestion with commute options for companies”.  It detailed how “The city can help with tailored, cost effective solutions”. 

Apparently that was the city’s response to a Dec. 23, 2019 Seattle Times Traffic Lab article “As tech firms grow, Bellevue braces for commuter boom”.   The city anticipates the 18,000 new downtown jobs when added to the 52,000 currently there will boost employment higher than Seattle’s South Lake Union.

It typifies the Bellevue Councils decade long failure to deal with the area’s congestion.  Bellevue used to have a requirement new developments were restricted if drivers were delayed more than one minute at any intersection by development.  That all ended more than a decade ago despite the fact residents for years have listed congestion as their major concern with 68% doing so in the latest survey.  The council’s welcoming the addition of 18,000 more jobs is just the latest example of that failure.

It’s “unlikely” many of the added workers will live within walking distance of the new jobs.  The problem for their commute is all the routes into Bellevue are already congested.   On I-90 Bridge, the council enabled Sound Transit's East Link light rail rather than two-way BRT with 10 times light rail capacity, 10 years sooner, at 1/10^th the cost.   All the I-90 Bridge commuters to Bellevue already face long delays into the city.  East Link’s share of light rail routed through DSTT won't provide the capacity for existing traffic let alone additional I-90 Bridge commuters.  

On I-90 corridor, congestion already begins before Issaquah. Yet Sound Transit has spent a decade refusing to increase transit ridership with added parking with access to more bus routes into Bellevue or Seattle.  Clearly more commuters will add to congestion.

On I-405 from Lynnwood the WSDOT decision to implement HOT on 2 of 5 lanes has increased GP lane congestion and failed to provide 45 mph for most peak commuters willing to pay.  The WSDOT plans for HOT and 2 of 4 lanes between Renton and Bellevue will increase existing congestion by forcing carpoolers to use the two GP lanes.  More riders will only increase that congestion.  

The bottom line is the council has abetted Sound Transit and WSDOT incompetency that’s already resulted in miles-long congestion on the routes into Bellevue.  East Link operation in 2023 will expose it as one of the biggest transportation boondoggles in history.  The WSDOT refuses to recognize the way to reduce I-405 congestion is to implement HOT on one lane with fees raised to assure 45 mph on HOV lane and another lane added to reduce GP congestion.

The only way to mitigate their incompetence is to force those adding workers to provide shuttle service with vans or buses on routes from near where they live to near where they work. A November 2017 GoGo website detailed how every day over 34,000 Silicon Valley employees are transported to their jobs by well-known companies such as Apple, Google, and Facebook. 

The council should insist they do so into Bellevue.