In May 2024, the City of Bellingham piloted a new bike lane on Holly Street from Ellis to Bay Street to improve safety, mobility, and accessibility for cyclists and pedestrians. This project helped advance key goals outlined in Bellingham’s 2024 Bicycle Master Plan, as well as the City’s Local Road Safety Plan, to enhance pedestrian safety and comfort in the downtown area. Additionally, the project aligns with Bellingham’s Complete Networks Ordinance, which prioritizes the safety and accessibility of the most vulnerable users in the city’s multimodal transportation system.
2025 Project Updates
Throughout the Pilot, we collected extensive community feedback, which helped guide several improvements that have been implemented since the Pilot project began. For details regarding the pilot project results, community feedback, data collection, and analysis, you can review the Holly Street Bike Lane Before & After Study Report, which Public Works presented to the Bellingham City Council on January 27, 2025.
Community input and pilot project results will inform the development of a final design for the Holly Street Corridor, from Broadway to Ellis Street. To learn more about the upcoming corridor project, design process, and how you can provide input, visit our Final Design – Holly Street Corridor (Broadway to Ellis) project page.
Summer 2025 – Last Round of Pilot Modifications
In July 2025, the City of Bellingham will implemented the last improvements as part of the Pilot Project to enhance cyclist visibility, reduce right-turn conflicts, and encourage safer speeds through intersections. These changes respond to community feedback and concerns we heard during the initial phase of this project.
Important changes included replacing parking-protected bike lanes between North State Street and Bay Street with standard buffered bike lanes —similar to those commonly seen throughout Bellingham — and installing safety enhancements at high-traffic intersections to improve visibility and facilitate safer pedestrian and bicycle crossings. See below for project details.
Pilot Period:
- May – Fall 2024: Evaluate the pilot’s effectiveness through the summer season.
- Winter 2024 – Spring 2025: Review and design an interim solution.
- Summer 2025: Implement the last round of interim improvements.
Lane Configurations:
- Ellis to State Street: Buffered bike lane with striped buffer zone separating cyclists from traffic.
- State to Bay Street:
- Parking protected separated bike lane with a physical barrier between parked cars and cyclists.
- Based on community feedback and pilot project data, parking-protected bike lanes will be replaced with buffered bike lanes in summer 2025.
Safety Enhancements:
- Leading Pedestrian Indicators (LPIs) at intersections for improved pedestrian and cyclist visibility while using crosswalks.
- Traffic studies to analyze traffic flow and speed impacts.
- Minimal changes to on-street parking availability.
- In Summer 2025, we will:
- Install green crossbikes to enhance cyclist visibility at driveways.
- Add turn wedges, speed bumps, tubular delineators, additional signage, and parking stall markings to consolidate pedestrian and cyclist traffic at crossings while encouraging safer speeds through intersections.
Traffic Flow Adjustments During Pilot Project:
- Adjusted traffic signal cycle length to accommodate slower cars and more bikes.
- Added bike bend-ins in summer 2024 to intersections with a parking-protected bike lane to reduce “right-hook” conflicts. Note: Parking-protected bike lanes will be converted to buffered bike lanes in summer 2025.
- Rechannelized Holly Street from Commercial Street to Bay Street in fall 2024.
- Restored this section of the street back to a left turn lane, through lane, and right turn lane.
Bicycle Usage
- There was a 33% increase in bike lane usage during the pilot period. On average, over 200 bikes use the Holly Street corridor daily.
- Holly Street has become downtown Bellingham’s busiest bike corridor, with ridership surpassing the next-highest route by more than 44%.
Speed
- Vehicles now travel at an average of 17mph down Holly Street, which is slightly slower than before the bike lane was installed. However, travel time through the Holly Street corridor increased by only 39 seconds, to 2 minutes and 33 seconds.
- When taken together with the minimal increases in overall travel time, this finding highlights an important project benefit. Slower speeds create a safer, more balanced multimodal corridor, which is desirable for a vibrant downtown core.
Pre-Pilot Input
- Pre-installation briefings were conducted with relevant advocacy groups, local businesses, the Transportation Commission, and City Council.
- Several outreach events were held to present the project to the public and solicit feedback from potential users of the new bike lane.
Ongoing Feedback Throughout Project
- During the pilot, an Engage Bellingham page was launched to gather community feedback from May to October 2024 on perceived safety as a cyclist, pedestrian, and driver.
- We received 1,171 responses to our survey and 1,310 comments, reflecting the critical importance of this roadway to our community.
- City staff were present at downtown events to facilitate in-person feedback collection.
- Post-pilot evaluations were presented to stakeholder groups to gather additional feedback on the pilot.
- A compilation of frequently asked questions (FAQs) is also available on the project’s Engage Bellingham page.
Addressing Community Concerns – an Iterative Process
- Community input, along with rigorous data collection and analysis, has informed several project modifications to address community concerns and improve safety.
- Through a combination of thoughtful design and considerate feedback, this corridor can become an even more vibrant, inclusive space that serves the diverse needs of our community.
- We want everyone to know that we are listening. Your voice plays a critical role in shaping our collective vision for a downtown that is safe, efficient, and welcoming for all.
Project Contact
General project questions: AskPW@cob.org
Media inquiries: pwmedia@cob.org
Project Engineer:
Shane Sullivan, PE, PTOE
Phone: (360) 778-7877
Email: spsullivan@cob.org
