Small Changes, Big Impacts
By Kelli Refer
Small changes in our built environment can have a big impact, for example, the Pride painted crosswalk on Cleveland street creates a sense of place and fosters belonging for LGBTQA people in Redmond. This year Move Redmond and community members who spoke up in support of bike lanes helped secure additional funds for physical separation on bike lanes. This was a small win, with only $150,000 for implementation and $50,000 to support bike and pedestrian improvements for projects in the CIP. The reality is that little changes like barriers on bike lanes are the kind of incremental investments that have a rippling effect to shift habits and safety outcomes.
Redmond is building a lot of momentum with our bike infrastructure, like the amazing new bike lanes on 156th and 152nd in Overlake (by the way did you check out Best Side Cycling’s newest video?). Changes can make streets safer and transit more accessible and invite more people to give biking a try.
Redmond isn’t stopping here! We are excited to see other multimodal investments come online next year, like the final segment of the Redmond Central Connector Trail that will link light rail to the Eastrail, trail connections under SR 520 to connect Downtown Redmond and South East Redmond and Bel-Red road bike lanes. Bel-Red road will have physical separation, too! This project has included Tuff-Curb delineators which will provide protection for people biking on Bel-Red. We are excited to hear this news, because we know good design makes a world of difference for people using the infrastructure.
We want to give a huge thank you to all the community members who spoke out this year in support of bike lanes. We also want to thank Redmond City Council, Mayor Birney and city staff for continuing to work together and support multimodal transportation. Each investment, while it may just be a section of trail or a physical separation on a bike lane, has a rippling effect that results in bigger changes.