Bellevue City Council recently received an update on the Grand Connection with the news that Amazon will match Bellevue’s $2.5 million in funding 30 percent design for a pedestrian bridge that would cross from Bellevue City Hall Plaza to Eastrail.
The Grand Connection today links people and places through the heart of Bellevue. A “pedestrian corridor” has been created with major public and private investments, according to an article by the Bellevue Downtown Association.
“The Grand Connection has been a very important multi-decade project to help improve non-motorized access to downtown for our residents, workers, and visitors,” Canedo said. “We hope the project will help enable and improve the value of redevelopment in Downtown and Wilburton moving forward.”
The purpose of the Grand Connection is to create a non-motorized connection from Meydenbauer Bay Park, across I-405 and into the Wilburton Commercial Area, which connects to the Eastside Rail Corridor.
The Lid Park which was chosen at a Bellevue City Council meeting in 2018, crosses over I-405 between Northeast 4th Street and Northeast 6th Street. 200,000 square feet of public space has been created along the connection for public use and events, as a result.
The open space is on top of a lid that sits over the highway. Bellevue City Council agreed that the ability to create almost four acres of parkland creates benefits like transportation connections, park land, place making, and economic development.
The Bellevue Downtown Association has partnered with the City of Bellevue on a Grand Connection activation pilot program for the past three years. They will continue to advance the vision and program the corridor.
Last year, Amazon donated $7.5 million to close the funding gap for two portions of the Eastrail in Bellevue including the Wilburton trestle.
According to DBA’s article, City staff will work collaboratively with partners to expedite the design work, with a goal of completing the 30% design on the bridge in 2024. The full Grand Connection project will rely on a combination public capital projects, private development projects, and unifying operations and management along the route.
The Main priority of the Bellevue City Council is for the project to move forward.
Great. We can look forward to more years of road closure, construction, increased population………. My wife and I ca not wait to move away from the east side. We live in Redmond and have nothing good to say about it any longer.
Looking forward to a great pedestrian route and also when people who only find negatively in everything finally move away.
This is completely useless. No one will use the light rail. I don’t have any trust in how this state spends its money and reverses our votes when we want cheaper tabs. Why do some people here vote for more taxes and why does the state want us to pay for construction they already have the money for? Probably cause they embezzled it. I’m only in my twenties and miss this place a decade and half ago like no joke cause at least we didn’t ruin the beauty of the state
People in their 20s reminiscing about what things were like when they were 10 are going to be sorely disappointed in their 30s and 40s when they realize that everything they thought they knew is wrong.
Anywho this is great plan, light rail usage will go up with added lines, and cities should be pedestrian-centered
Fr Franklin. I don’t find everything negative! Over building is a problem. Have you SEEN the traffic on 520 and 405 after 3:00 pm. The light rail is the answer?!? 🥴 Lemming mentality.
D – 👍
K – 🤣
Tax, tax, tax, keep taxing! Eastside light rail took 4 years to complete? Who is going to use this and at what percentage?
Yea, what about our license tabs?
Take a look at the infrastructure of how other countries built systems . We are behind times on slow motion!!
Who is going to use the lightrail? The thousands who can’t afford to live close to where they work. The thousands who don’t want to continue contributing to climate change by driving everyday. Only to eastsiders is public transit some kind of foreign concept.
Commuter traffic is already a substantial problem in Bellevue and offices for thousands of new jobs are under construction. The public transportation projects under way are a sensible way to accommodate Eastside growth. I am delighted that parks and human-friendly access are a planned part of our future!
While the second phase of the proposed Grand Connection is intriguing, the City of Bellevue ought to let its citizens know how much it will cost to build, and who will pay for this park over I-405 before proceeding much further. With a $1Billion backlog of City transportation capital projects, other parks throughout the City needing funding, public safety declining, and an impending recession, some fiscal responsibility is sorely needed.