Reported today on The Seattle Times For the full article visit:
As Amazon and other companies expand there, Bellevue preps for thousands more commuters
BELLEVUE - The downtown parking garage kitty-corner from City Hall doesn't look particularly notable, with its beige exterior and blue "public parking" sign.
But this four-level structure, where Northeast Sixth Street meets 110th Avenue Northeast, sits as a symbol of both Bellevue's tradition of easy driving and an ongoing building boom that is forcing the city to rethink how people get around.
In the coming years, the garage is expected to be demolished to make room for Amazon's tallest building yet, a 43-story tower that, along with other corporate expansions, will bring thousands of new workers downtown. Other developers propose more towers for apartments, offices and hotel rooms nearby.
Traffic Lab is a Seattle Times project that digs into the region's thorny transportation issues, spotlights promising approaches to easing gridlock, and helps readers find the best ways to get around. It is funded with the help of community sponsors Alaska Airlines, Kemper Development Co., NHL Seattle, PEMCO Mutual Insurance Company and Seattle Children's hospital. Seattle Times editors and reporters operate independently of our funders and maintain editorial control over Traffic Lab content.
City staff anticipate a net gain of roughly 18,000 downtown jobs by 2025, as Amazon, Microsoft, Google and others grow their Eastside workforces. The new hires would join more than 52,000 people now working in the city core, and boost employment higher than current numbers in Seattle's busy South Lake Union.
In this city built for the automobile, traffic already stacks up during afternoon commutes, and Interstate 405 slows to a crawl.
"I don't know how you could stick more cars in here," said Chris
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