Published September 25 2018
It’s not every day that a new elementary school opens in the Bellevue School District. In fact, there has not been a new, non-replacement, school since 1972. That all changed when Wilburton Elementary School opened on Aug. 30.
The new facility at 12300 Main St. creates a good opportunity for children to walk to school. More kids walking more lessens congestion and can decrease tardiness, not to mention being fun and healthy.
To encourage walking, the city and school district worked together before Wilburton opened to plan safe pedestrian routes. Today, more than a mile of new sidewalks and pathways are on the way to completion in the coming weeks.
City and school district staff also collaborated on a creative funding strategy to pay for the roughly $3 million project. Sources include: the city’s Neighborhood Sidewalks Program; Neighborhood Safety, Connectivity and Congestion Levy; Major Maintenance Program; Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program; Parks Renovation and Refurbishment Program and the Bellevue School District.
Project improvements include:
- New sidewalk on the east side 118th Avenue Southeast, south of Main Street;
- New sidewalk on the west side of 128th Avenue Southeast, from Southeast Sixth Place to Northeast Second Street;
- New sidewalk on the north side of Northeast Second Street, from 124th to 128th avenues northeast; and
- A reconstructed path on the south side of Main Street, in front of the Wilburton Instructional Service Center.
Additional project elements include shared bike lane markings (sharrows), decorative stencils that enhance neighborhood identity and other intersection and crossing improvements.
The Wilburton Area Sidewalks Project is just one of 19 funded by the transportation levy that will be substantially completed this year. The levy provides additional funding resources to supplement existing programs, allowing the city to design and build more projects for Bellevue residents.
Approved by voters in 2016, the 20-year property tax levy generates approximately $7.4 million per year to help address a backlog of neighborhood safety, connectivity, sidewalk, bicycle, technology, congestion relief and maintenance projects.