Most of Bellevue’s fatal and serious-injury collisions occur on a relatively small number of city streets, known as the high-injury network. To address safety concerns on these streets, Bellevue conducts road safety assessments to identify safety issues, particularly for vulnerable road users such as those walking, biking or rolling.
Road safety assessments (RSA's) incorporate technical analysis with community engagement to identify safety concerns and potential solutions. In this way, the assessments are a data-informed and community-inspired approach to connect the high-injury network to implementation of traffic safety countermeasures. The City of Bellevue has completed eight assessments on arterials such as Northeast 8th Street and near Bellevue School Zones conducted between 2021-2023.
2025-2029 Road Safety Assessments
In 2024, the city was awarded federal funding through the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program to conduct road safety assessments for an additional 13.7 miles of the HIN between 2025-2029.
The city’s goal with this project is to gather local knowledge and community insights that may not be captured in a more traditional, technically oriented RSA process. The project will use community input from community members who regularly use these streets, data from traffic studies, and industry best practices to identify and prioritize safety solutions that can be implemented through capital investments by the city.
Outreach to the community will be an important part of the RSA process. City staff and project consultant DKS Associates invite your participation in the following ways:
- Community walking audit: The city will complete two RSAs this year and invite community members to join a community walking audit to provide input on safety concerns. To participate in one or both of the audits by registering at the links below:
- Online questionnaire: If you can’t make it to one of the walking audits, or prefer to provide feedback virtually, a survey on EngagingBellevue.com will be available in the coming weeks.
Connecting assessments to implementation
The City Council has allocated $7.1 million in the city's budget for 2025-30 to implement rapid build road safety projects along High Injury Network (HIN) corridors. As RSAs are completed, the observations and suggestions from the report will inform the next study phase for the road segment – the Safe Streets Corridor study.
Safe Streets Corridor Studies
Safety issues identified by staff and the community through the RSAs are prioritized -- based on crash history, equity indicators, and other metrics -- for quick-build countermeasure improvements funded by the city's Vision Zero Rapid Build Safety Program (CIP PW-R-205). RSA-informed corridor safety improvement priorities along the HIN are also cross-referenced with upcoming/ongoing capital investment projects to identify implementation opportunities that pool city budget resources. Safety improvements can include radar feedback signs, wayfinding signage, pedestrian crossings, medians, speed cushions, traffic calming, asphalt art, before/after assessments and other tools to help inform future investments.
Staff also pursue external funding sources -- through grants and partnerships -- to accelerate the realization of HIN corridor safety improvements.
- In 2022, the city secured $1.24 million in federal Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) funding for the Coal Creek Parkway Corridor Safety Improvement Project to design and construct improvements for pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles.
- In 2024, the city secured $628,000 in federal Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) funding for the NE 8th Street Complete Streets Safety Improvements to design and construct improvements for people who walk, bike, roll or drive a vehicle.
For more information on RSA, Safe Streets Corridor studies and related work, sign up for Vision Zero updates.
Background material
- News release (Jan. 5, 2022)