After years of delay, the construction on Downtown Park’s Northeast Gateway has started.

The entrance at the corner of Northeast Fourth Street and Bellevue Way will feature an entry plaza, water feature and public art. The northeast area of the park will be closed during construction, including Belvedere fountain and a formal garden, but the rest will remain open. There will also be some closures of the east pedestrian park entrance.

The city expects the entryway to be complete by early 2021.

An estimated weekday average of 26,000 people travel daily down Bellevue Way, according to a press release from the city of Bellevue. This makes that entrance location of high visibility.

“This project will create an inviting, new front door for Downtown Park on bustling Bellevue Way,” Mayor Lynne Robinson stated in the release.

The entrance will also be a part of the Grand Connection– a 1.5 mile pedestrian corridor.

Downtown Park construction first began in the ’80s, following the city’s land purchase from Bellevue School District. Much of the Downtown Park was completed by 2017 but the northeast entrance has remained unfinished. The Bellevue Reporter reported in 2014 that the city wished to complete the northeast gateway project in 2015-16, but it would have required the city to borrow money as it ran low on levy funds.

For more information visit bellevuewa.gov.