Soon a safe route to new school for Eastgate Elementary students

The Bellevue City Council on Tuesday helped make sure students at the newly built Eastgate Elementary School soon have a route to school that matches the quality of the building.

The council approved an agreement with the state Department of Transportation for a grant that will help pay for construction of a long-awaited sidewalk along 152nd Avenue Southeast.

Under a Safe Routes to School grant from the state DOT, Bellevue will receive an additional $192,500 for education and enforcement efforts, and to help build new curb, gutter and six-foot wide sidewalks on the west side of 152nd Avenue, from Southeast 46th Street to Southeast Newport Way. Total cost of the project is $5.07 million.

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The goal of the improvements is to create a safe walking route from several residential developments to the school, located at 4255 153rd Avenue Southeast.

Presently, the sidewalk ends at Southeast 46th Place and students must walk along an unprotected shoulder on a curving road. Also, a segment nearest the school consists of a cracked, uneven asphalt path separated from the street by a concrete barrier.

In addition to engineering in support of the project, the grant will pay entirely for a safe trips education program and for a student art project to paint tiles with safety messages that will be installed along the new sidewalk. It will also cover the costs of 20 extra enforcement patrols by the Bellevue Police Department.

Construction on the sidewalk project is scheduled to begin in 2010 and be complete in time for the start of the 2010-2011 school year.