1659635 - Building complete transportation networks for a healthier, safer, and more resilient city

The City of Redmond, Washington is a suburb of Seattle with a strong technology business sector. The City encompasses an area of over 17 square miles and is located less than 20 miles east of downtown Seattle. Redmond is transitioning from a suburban environment to urban in a timeframe of unprecedented growth and change, with transportation systems being center stage. The City has a bustling Downtown and is in the process of adding two additional urban growth centers with its Comprehensive Plan update. Population and jobs are expected to grow significantly by 2050. Redmond is also the location of four new light rail stations, which will have a transformative effect to the City’s transportation system by connecting the suburb to several other regional centers with transit, including Seattle by 2026.  

Within the work of updating the Transportation Master Plan (TMP), the City is prioritizing the health of vulnerable active mode users with the guiding principles of safety, equity and inclusion, sustainability, resilience, and technology forward. The TMP Update will be the culmination of several plan documents that start with the end users in mind first and the community outcomes that the City hopes to see. To do this, public engagement practices seek to involve stakeholders consistently throughout the process so people feel in dialogue with the City instead of being talked to. 

The City is developing a Safer Streets for All (SS4A) Action Plan that builds on a baseline level Local Road Safety Plan, a data-based identification of risk factors and prioritized systemic and site-specific countermeasures, and creates a roadmap to address citywide traffic safety needs on a programmatic level within a prioritization framework. The Bicycle Design Guide is being updated to reflect industry practices for safer bike facilities and will incorporate Level of Traffic Stress. The City's overall goal is to reduce, not only fatal and severe injury crashes, but all crashes and near misses to improve the comfort and safety of the City's transportation network for users of all modes, ages, abilities, and resources. 

Redmond also seeks to prioritize accessibility throughout the city, recognizing that the health of its residents also depends on their ability to navigate to and from grocery stores, medical appointments, and social networks. The City will soon begin updating their ADA transition plan which includes prioritizing the removal of accessibility barriers throughout public rights of way for those with mobility challenges. In 2023, community engagement efforts were designed to be more intentionally focused on specific questions. The “Routes to Rails” Campaign sought feedback regarding preferred routes to and ability to access the future light rail stations. An accessibility study analyzing the application of universal design into the Comprehensive Plan started with stakeholder interviews and walking audits.  
 

The City of Redmond knows that their anticipated growth will shine a spotlight on their transportation systems. Redmond’s TMP Update seeks to transform its suburban auto-dependent system to make meaningful progress towards modal diversification. In doing so, vulnerable users will have a safer, better-connected, complete street network.