2/19/21: The open house is closed.

Welcome! This is the city’s second online open house to gather public feedback on interchange alternatives. Our goal is to ease traffic congestion and help people get where they need to go in south Downtown Bellevue, whether they are walking, biking, riding transit or driving. This online open house closes at 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb 19.

Thank you for participating in this online open house to learn about our analysis findings and share input on five remaining alternatives.

• Lake Hills Connector southbound on-ramp
• Southeast Sixth Street extension and southbound on-ramp
• Southeast Sixth Street extension inside access (formerly called Southeast Sixth Street extension with express toll lane access to and from the south)
• Northeast Second Street extension
• No build (no new interchange)

The City Council will collaborate with the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and consider technical analysis and community input before selecting a preferred alternative. Ultimately, the state legislature has the decision-making authority to fund the project. More information about the study can be found on the South Downtown I-405 Access Study webpage.

Following this round of community engagement, the study team will present the analysis findings along with stakeholder and public input to the council in April for its consideration in selecting a preferred alternative. If you would like to receive a meeting agenda notice, go to BellevueWA.gov/city-council.

To learn more about our evaluation of each alternative, select the “View Alternatives” tab below. Submit your comments in the "Share Feedback" tab below. You can also ask a question. See our frequently asked questions (FAQs) to the right for answers to common questions we have heard.

Background

The city and WSDOT evaluated several interchange concepts, between Northeast Second Street and Southeast Eighth Street. We also studied the results of not building a new interchange, a no build option. This study stems from WSDOT’s I-405 Master Plan adopted in 2002. We conducted this technical analysis on two levels, or tiers.

Tier 1 screening

We evaluated 13 alternatives, including the no build option, under a fatal flaw screening. This process considered compatibility with Bellevue’s transportation and land use plans and polices, compliance with federal and state policies and feasibility of construction. Five alternatives passed the Tier 1 screening and advanced to the Tier 2 evaluation. In addition to feedback from stakeholders within the study area, we captured community feedback in the first online open house held in August 2020 (see the FAQ section to the right for main themes from the first online open house).

In September 2020, the council selected five alternatives, including the no build option, for further analysis.

Tier 2 evaluation

We evaluated the remaining alternatives on:

	Alignment with adopted plans and policies		Impact on property development
	Travel time		Costs (right-of-way, design, construction, impact mitigation)
	Access and safety

Stakeholder and community input are key factors in both screening processes. Please refer to the FAQ section to the right for more details about the evaluation process.