Four Bellevue intersections now feature colorful crosswalks painted by local artists as part of a city pilot testing whether the designs affect pedestrian safety.

The Creative Crosswalks program, a partnership between the city's Transportation and Community Development departments, placed artist-designed crosswalks at these locations, according to the city's project page:

  • 106th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 10th Street
  • 124th Avenue Northeast and Northeast Eighth Street
  • 132nd Avenue Northeast and Bel-Red Road
  • 164th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 24th Street

At each intersection, one crosswalk carries a creative design. The other remains unpainted, serving as a control for evaluation. The city is comparing the four artistic crosswalks against 12 no-treatment crosswalks to measure safety outcomes and community sentiment.

The program landed on the front page of the Fall/Winter 2026 issue of It's Your City, the city newsletter arriving in Bellevue mailboxes the week of Nov. 6. Jennifer Cook, the city's transportation public information officer, wrote the newsletter feature.

Seattle-based visual artist Nikita Ares and Tacoma-based artist Kenji Stoll each designed two of the four crosswalks. The city issued an open call for artists in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties and limited each artist to a palette of up to six colors.

Ares immigrated to the United States from the Philippines at age 17 and earned a fine art degree from Cornish College of the Arts in 2018, according to the city. Her work spans studio painting, public art and community workshops.

Stoll's work layers patterns and natural imagery informed by his Japanese American heritage, and he has a background in graffiti art, murals and community-based public art.

A U.S. Department of Transportation Safe Streets and Roads for All grant funds the project, supplemented by the city's Arts and Culture program.

The city wants to know: do the bright designs grab drivers' attention and make pedestrians more visible, or do they distract? A city announcement published Sept. 24 described the pilot as exploring "the possibility of how art can improve safety around intersections."

The project page notes the art's intent is "purely aesthetic," but the pilot evaluates how the artistic crosswalks compare to control crosswalks on safety and community reaction. Results will also help the city develop a guide for future asphalt art projects.

Residents who have walked, rolled or driven through one of the crosswalks can take a five-minute survey through Nov. 30. The survey link is available on the city's Creative Crosswalks project page. The crosswalks were also featured in the September 2026 episode of Bellevue TV's Lake to Lake show.

The evaluation runs through 2027.