FAQs

The Mobility Implementation Plan (MIP) is a new long-range planning framework being developed by the Bellevue Transportation Commission at the request of the City Council. The purpose of the MIP is to ensure that all of Bellevue’s transportation plans are compatible with each other and with the city’s land use plan. It will help the city make decisions on project investments based on what people want in their transportation system and the quality of life that they expect, and what users of all ages and abilities need to reach their destinations, whether they are walking, biking, driving or taking transit.

The MIP will incorporate elements such as multimodal concurrency, equity and sustainability. It will also include performance metrics and performance targets to measure progress in seven different performance management areas in Bellevue. The plan will also track system completeness to identify what gaps need to be filled. For more information, visit BellevueWA.gov/mobility-plan.

What is Multimodal Concurrency?

Concurrency is a requirement in the state Growth Management Act that cities adopt transportation system plans and build projects that accommodate anticipated growth. Bellevue’s concurrency standard now measures only vehicle capacity at specified intersections. Under multimodal concurrency, additional travel modes will be considered for planning and implementation, such as walking, bicycling and transit.

Bellevue’s existing approach to concurrency measures only the capacity of the transportation system for vehicles, so the only way to meet the concurrency standard is to build wider roads and intersections to maintain the adopted level-of-service standard. A multimodal concurrency standard will expand the types of transportation projects that will count toward concurrency, including sidewalks, bike lanes and transit facilities.

A performance metric is a measured characteristic of the transportation system. For instance, a measured characteristic of a sidewalk is the width. Bicycle facility performance is related to its comfort, safety and connectedness. Performance metrics of a bus stop include passenger amenities such as a bench or a shelter. For streets, the performance metric is related to the capacity of an intersection to accommodate vehicles and the travel speed or travel time of those vehicles along the street.

A performance target describes the level-of-service that exists or is intended for each mode of travel. For instance, a performance target for the width of a sidewalk could be 7 feet and the adjacent landscape strip could be 5 feet wide, making a combined 12-foot wide performance target. Each travel mode in the Mobility Implementation Plan – waking, bicycling, taking transit and driving – has one or more performance targets.

A performance management area is a mapped geographic area that has similar land use characteristics (for instance commercial or residential) within which specific performance targets for vehicles are set. The Mobility Implementation Plan includes seven planned performance management areas: Downtown, Wilburton/East Main, BelRed, Crossroads, Eastgate, Factoria and Residential.

For the non-motorized transportation system in Bellevue (facilities that support walking and bicycling), the Pedestrian and Bicycle Transportation Plan defines what the entire system will look like when every sidewalk is built and every bike lane is striped. This plan describes the complete system for those modes. Bellevue measures how much of the system is complete and identifies projects that will fill the incomplete parts of the system – the gaps.

The transportation system in Bellevue supports the many different types of current and planned land uses, whether it’s high-rise office and residential buildings downtown or a house on a wooded lot in Bridle Trails. The planned transportation system must match planned land uses with facilities that support walking, bicycling, riding transit or driving. 

A layered network is one that identifies where separate plans for each mode are compatible with each other and with the planned land use, and where there may be conflicts that need to be resolved. An example of a potential conflict may be an intersection expansion to accommodate more cars, but makes it more difficult to cross the street on foot.

In Bellevue, the diverse population of residents, workers, students and visitors means the city needs to build a transportation system that meets the needs of everyone, regardless of their means or abilities. Access to jobs, services, shopping, parks and schools is fundamentally important to the quality of life. 

Yet not everyone is able to access these places with the same type of transportation. For that reason the city strives to provide equitable access for everyone, with a wide range of transportation facilities. The Mobility Implementation Plan will include an “equity index” to help identify places where specific types of projects would enable people get to where they need to go.

Sustainability regarding transportation is a measure of how transportation facilities and the use of those facilities impact the environment. For example, a project to widen a road may encroach on a wetland or a landscaped buffer in a neighborhood, and the use of that road by people driving may be noisy or may pollute the air. The Mobility Implementation Plan will identify performance targets that measure these environmental impacts – greenhouse gas emissions is one example – that will inform the community on progress toward meeting environmental sustainability goals.