Published July 7 2025
Slower speeds will support Vision Zero
To improve safety for all users – including people walking and biking – Bellevue’s Transportation Department will lower speed limits on four Bellevue streets later this month.
The speed limit on portions of 124th Avenue Southeast/Southeast 38th Street and Northup Way from Bellevue Way to 120th Avenue Northeast will be reduced from 35 to 25 mph; the speed limit on Village Park Drive and a portion of Northeast 40th Street will be reduced from 35 to 30 mph.
These changes are part of Safe Speeds Bellevue, a new program to improve safety and support Vision Zero by evaluating speed limits and reducing speeds on city streets. The City Council approved the speed limit reductions on June 3. Transportation staff will update speed limit signs later this month. The new speed limits consider how the street is designed and used by people walking, rolling, bicycling and driving.
City staff will study how people using these streets respond to the new speed limits and then use this data to inform future phases of the project. These streets were selected for initial speed reduction because they are near schools, along bike routes, and have been requested by residents—allowing evaluation of lower speed limits in a variety of contexts.
Next, staff will review the speed limits on all streets in Bellevue that have a limit of 30 mph or more. Almost 90% of fatal and serious injury crashes happen on these streets even though they are only 25% of the total street network.
Reducing speed limits has improved safety in Bellevue, Seattle and many other cities across the U.S. It has been shown to reduce high-end speeding, decrease the number of crashes and reduce the number of injury crashes. Safe Speeds Bellevue supports the city’s Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious-injury collisions on city streets by 2030.
There will be opportunities to share your input on Safe Speeds Bellevue later this summer, including an online survey and several in-person events. More details and future updates can be found at BellevueWA.gov/safe-speeds.