Bellevue Reporter, September 23, 2011

Page 1

BELLEVUE .com

REPORTER

NEWSLINE 425-453-4270

TRANSPORTATION | New ramps coming next week that will change how you access I-405, SR 520 [ 2 ]

Sports | Concussions to youth athletes getting Arts | Gripping Village Theatre musical inspires a new kind of increased attention from local high schools patriotism [ 8 ] FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2011 [ 16 ]

A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING

RapidRide bus debuts next week System to offer fast service from Bellevue to Redmond BY NAT LEVY nlevy@bellevuereporter.com

More than 200 people descended upon City Hall Tuesday to see new light-rail design options to cross 112th Avenue. NAT LEVY, Bellevue Reporter

People pack light-rail open house BY NAT LEVY nlevy@bellevuereporter.com

Light-rail negotiations and discussion continue to grind forward, and the community hasn’t lost interest. An open house Tuesday brought close to 200 people to Bellevue City Hall for spirited discussions between citizens, staff members and members of the Bellevue City Council. The two-hour open house was the first opportunity for the community to comment on a number of options for street crossings on Sound Transit’s preferred route up 112th FAST. CASUAL. KOREAN.

“Korean is America’s next big cuisine� – Tanya Steel, Epicurios.com

Avenue and Bellevue Way. Three options include a crossing at street level at Southeast Sixth Street, which is Sound Transit’s original proposal; an above-ground crossing over the top at Southeast 15th that dives into a trench under Southeast Fourth; and a street-level crossing at Southeast 15th Street. Of all those present, Robert Rosell may be one of the most affected Bellevue residents. With a home on Southeast 23rd and Bellevue Way, Rosell said he lives the closest to the line. He favors the trains coming in, but would have liked to have seen the line go elsewhere. He is concerned that if the project budget drops due to economic issues, relief for the neighborhoods could be compromised. “If they do come down Bellevue Way, if they run out of money, what they may take away is the mitigation to minimize damages to the neighborhoods,� he said. The open house and other public outreach programs are running parallel to the ongoing negotiations between Bellevue and Sound Transit on how to fund a $300 million downtown tunnel. The two sides are negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding to iron out a $160 million contribution from Bellevue. Bellevue and Sound Transit are running up against an Oct. 25 deadline to sign the deal, which some Bellevue council members have called unrealistic. [ more LIGHT-RAIL page 3 ]

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The red and yellow express that is the RapidRide B-Line will begin its regular journey from downtown Bellevue to Redmond in two weeks. Metro Transit has begun testing the new Bus-Rapid Transit that features more frequent service, greater amenities and technological improvements for rider convenience. The new buses, which will travel every 10 to 15 minutes, will run on a route from the Bellevue Transit Center, down Northeast Eighth Street, head down 156th Avenue Northeast toward the Overlake Transit Center and into Redmond and back beginning Oct. 1. Riders will be able to better estimate their travel, as each RapidRide station features a realtime reader board for bus arrival times. The system RapidRide B stations, complete with realfeatures GPS track- time reader boards, have gone up all over ers in all buses town in anticpation of the new line’s Oct. 1 to give accurate debut. NAT LEVY, Bellevue Reporter times based on the vehicle’s distance from a stop, rather than a blanket interval listed between stops, said the line’s implementation lead Paul Roybal. [ more RAPIDRIDE page 3]

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