Back in April, the Sound Transit Board updated its preferred alternative for East Link after a number of new studies and alignments surfaced. The preferred South Bellevue (B) segment, B2M, runs from I-90, serves the South Bellevue P&R, and up Bellevue Way and 112th Ave into downtown. ST has moved forward on preliminary engineering for this segment and has been reaching out to area neighborhoods for design options and mitigation.
As part of this, there are three workshops and one open house coming up. The workshops each have different content:
Community Workshops
All meetings will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Bellevue City Hall, 450 110th Ave NE.June 15
Topic: Understanding 112th Avenue Options and Community InterestsJune 29
Topic: Evaluating the 112th Avenue OptionsJuly 7
Topic: Identifying Community Preferences on 112thOpen House
July 14
Topic: 112th Avenue, South Bellevue Park-and-Ride, and Bellevue Way
6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Bellevue City HallDue to the structure of these meetings, we want to ensure we are prepared to accommodate everyone that wants to attend. Please RSVP for the workshops to eastlink@soundtransit.org or 206-398-5438. RSVPs are not required, but appreciated.
While this information is primarily targeted at our Bellevue readers, nothing precludes anyone else from attending. I would, however, surmise that a strong showing will be made by people most affected by this portion of East Link, both tangibly and intangibly.
This meeting will be an open house with a sit-down expository portion. It probably will not have an open microphone, as I understand it. For those just now jumping into this issue, the likely issues will probably be “B2” or “B7” with a very loud and organized group against B2 and for B7. This is the vocal group trying to keep East Link far away from their homes. My educated opinion is that these are primarily people who also have no real desire to see East Link at all. There is another group who will be adversely affected by B7, which will run very close to their residences. These people favor B2, but an interesting difference is that they tend also to be transit riders.
Anybody who favors light rail should consider coming, even if you are not directly affected–even if you live in Seattle. This meeting is likely to be dominated by anti-transit people and needs to have other voices present.
Can someone fill in the legend for me?
Solid Red line = surface level
Dotted purple line =
Dotted blue line =
Dotted black line =
Solid Red line = Surface
Dotted purple line = Retained cut
Dotted blue line = Aerial
Dotted black line = Tunnel