City of Bellevue Holds Ribbon Cutting to Celebrate the Opening of an Improved 36th Street

Bellevue Mayor Rusty Hike, City Administrator Jim Ristow and Public Works Director Doug Clark joined representatives from Olsson Engineering and Vrana Construction on Monday Morning to cut the ribbon and open all lanes of Phase 1 of the 36^th Street Project to vehicle and pedestrian traffic once crews finish lane striping and stoplight configuration this afternoon.

The purpose of this two-phase project is to improve local traffic operations along 36th Street between Bline Avenue and Platteview Road to facilitate the safe and efficient movement of existing traffic, and to accommodate future traffic volumes and travel demands along the 36th Street corridor which has become one of the most traveled areas in the city.

Phase 1 of the project, which covers improvements to 36^th Street between Bline Avenue and Sheridan Road, was started in October of 2020. The construction cost for Phase 1 of the project was approximately $18.3 million. Phase 2 of this project which entails 36th Street corridor work further south from Sheridan Road to Platteview Road is slated to start construction in 2024.

In his remarks at the Ribbon Cutting, Mayor Hike pointed out how important this project is to the Bellevue Community and the citizens of southwest Bellevue. He mentioned specifically the dedicated left turn lanes in each direction which will improve efficiency of the intersection and minimize delay time as well as the 10-foot-wide sidewalks which will greatly improve pedestrian accessibility and safety on this roadway.

Bellevue Public Works Director Doug Clark was excited to see this part of the 36^th Street project reach completion and also reported how this would tie in to the future improvements of 36^th Street heading north between Highway 370 and Cornhusker Road which is currently in planning phases.

Tony Egelhoff with Olsson Engineering and Grant Perry with Vrana Construction also shared comments about the improvements along the corridor and thanked the Bellevue Community for their cooperation during this entire project.

The City of Bellevue would like to thank the teams at Olsson Engineering and Vrana Construction along with the members of the City’s Public Works Department for all of their work to ensure this project was completed in a timely fashion despite some obstacles along the way.