Four Bellevue intersections feature brightly painted crosswalks designed by Puget Sound artists, part of a city pilot program testing whether the colorful treatments make streets safer for pedestrians.
The Creative Crosswalks program, a partnership between Bellevue's Transportation and Community Development departments, placed one artist-designed crosswalk at each of four locations during summer 2026.
The city is asking anyone who has walked, rolled or driven through the intersections to fill out a five-minute feedback survey before Nov. 30.
The four crosswalks are at:
- 164th Avenue NE and NE 24th Street
- 124th Avenue NE and NE Eighth Street
- 132nd Avenue NE and Bel-Red Road
- 106th Avenue NE and NE 10th Street
At each intersection, only one crosswalk carries the artistic design. The others remain standard, serving as controls.
The city is comparing the painted crosswalks against 12 control crosswalks across Bellevue to measure safety, maintenance needs and community reaction.
Seattle-based artist Nikita Ares and Tacoma-based artist Kenji Stoll each created two of the four designs. Ares, who immigrated to the United States from the Philippines at 17 and holds a fine art degree from Cornish College of the Arts, works in abstract painting and public murals. Stoll's designs layer patterns and natural imagery informed by his Japanese American heritage.
According to the city's project page, the pilot asks key questions: do the bright crosswalks increase drivers' attention, make pedestrians more visible, or prove distracting? Results will also help the city develop a guide for future asphalt art projects.
Stoll has said he enjoys working on public art because of "the ways they shape our shared understanding of who we are and where we live."
The program is funded by a $2.787 million Safe Streets and Roads for All grant the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded Bellevue in December 2023, along with money from the city's Arts and Culture program. That federal grant also supports other safety initiatives, including protected turn phasing for pedestrians and adaptive signal controls.
When the grant was announced in December 2023, Mayor Lynne Robinson said it "accelerates our vision for increased safety throughout our transportation system" as the city works toward its Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030.
The city plans to evaluate the crosswalks against control sites through 2027. No date has been set for when findings will be made public.
