Bellevue .com
Reporter
newsline 425-453-4270
Politics | Democrats, Republicans upset over ‘push poll’ in 48th District [11]
GET OUR FREE MOBILE APP
Sports | Young Newport phenom has eyes set on a state golf friday, july 13, 2012 championship next year [ 9 ]
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
Scan this code and start receiving local news on your mobile device today!
Bellevue looking at how to improve downtown traffic
Michelle Nitz, executive director of Washington Women in Need, at the company’s office in downtown Bellevue. NAt levy, Bellevue Reporter
Women’s group celebrates 20 years By Nat Levy Bellevue Reporter
Debbie Graham lost her smile. By age 22, she had been married and divorced, and she became the sole parent of her son. She struggled with problems of self-esteem, and a car accident in 2006 left her with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and nowhere to turn. She eventually sought counseling, but it proved too expensive, until a counselor introduced her to Washington Women In Need. She was able to receive a grant from the company to pay for therapy services. It wasn’t long before she was driving again, and a
HOW YOU CAN HELP Washington Women in Need counts on private donations for all the grants it gives out to low-income women throughout the state. To donate, or become a volunteer, visit http://www.wwin.org/. To follow the company’s latest news, visit https://www.facebook.com/pages/WashingtonWomen-in-Need/ second grant helped her pay for dental care to “fix her smile.” “They just really treated me with a lot of dignity and respect, and lots of times when you need that kind of assistance it’s really difficult to get through the red
tape and all the hoops,” she said. “You really felt like they were giving you a hand up and not a hand out.” Graham recently earned an undergraduate degree, and is heading to the
Photo Specialists
All cameras includes one year limited warranty
Call today for an appointment. ( 425 )
974-1044 • www.bbic.com b e l l e v u e wa s h i n gto n
JUST NORTH OF BELLEVUE SQUARE. EASY ACCESS, EASY PARKING.
1100 Bellevue Way NE (425) 455-2126 www.OMEGAPHOTO.biz
As Bellevue’s downtown continues to bustle and boom, so does the need to find safe ways for all forms of transportation to exist on the city’s crowded roadways. The City Council considered a variety of transportation options July 9 during a briefing about a plan to ensure that getting around Bellevue’s core is easy and safe for motorists, cyclists, transit riders and walkers. The Downtown Transportation Plan, an update of the 2004 plan, which doesn’t take into account the future East Link light-rail line and RapidRide buses, is intended to plot out needed facilities for all modes of transportation downtown between now and 2030. By then, employment downtown is projected to be 70,300, up from 42,525 in 2010, while the downtown residential population is projected to reach 19,000 a 177 percent jump from the 2010 downtown population of 6,858. The new plan, targeted for completion in 2013, could set the stage for projects as big as new highway overpasses and streets or as small as lane striping, traffic signal timing and crosswalks. An overpass at Northeast 10th Street for bikes and an added lane on Northeast Eighth Street between 106th and 108th Avenues are examples of completed projects identified in the current downtown transportation plan. The update focuses on four modes of transportation: bicycle, pedestrian, transit and roadway. Staff and consultants have worked with the Transportation Commission on the bicycle section of the plan so far, and the council focused on that. Possible bike facilities include east-west corridor improvements on Main and Northeast 12th streets and northsouth corridor improvements on 100th, 108th and 112th Avenues Northeast. Councilmembers asked about ways to make conditions better for cyclists on 112th Avenue, which is part of the Lake Washington Loop route and a key bike commuter route. The intersection with Northeast Eighth Street, with many lanes of traffic in four directions and on- and offramps for Interstate 405, begs for some kind of improvement, councilmembers said. Some ideas have been identified, including a dedicated bike lane or a bike-pedestrian overpass, but city staff members would like to receive more resident input would be helpful for developing a preference or finding new solutions. For more information, visit: http://www.bellevuewa.gov/ downtown-transportation-plan-update.htm
Dining, Cocktails &Happy Hour
See wwin, 11
See page 12 & 13 in today’s paper