More Holly Street bike lane changes coming; here’s what the city is considering
Holly Street could be seeing changes soon, as city officials move ahead with plans to extend bike lanes along the entire length of the street, which is a one-way downhill thoroughfare and the major road heading west to downtown and the waterfront.
Public Works Department officials are looking at adding bike lanes from Bay Street to Broadway, according to recent presentations to the Transportation Commission and to the City Council. Holly Street already has bike lanes from Ellis to Bay streets, a controversial step that has seen several revisions.
Extending the bike lanes along the full length of Holly Street likely will mean getting rid of street parking west of Whatcom Creek, according to a Dec. 8 presentation to the City Council by Tim Hohmann, assistant director of Public Works for Transportation.
It could also mean changing the direction of flow on Holly Street, which is one-way westbound from Ellis Street to Bay Street, and has two-way traffic west of Bay Street.
One possibility would make the transition to two-way traffic at Champion Street, rather than at Bay Street, Hohmann said.
Information presented to the Transportation Commission on Nov. 12 shows that several options are under consideration, including:
- Deciding how to protect the bike lane from traffic — flexible posts, a raised concrete median separating bikes from cars, or with a curb separating both the bike lanes and the sidewalk from traffic.
- The possibility of adding a separate signal just for bikes at Bay and Holly streets.
- An all-way stop at Holly and Champion streets if the one-way section of Holly is extended to Champion.
- Back-in angle parking on the south side of Holly between Bay and Champion.
- Removal of parking on the south side of Holly Street west of Central Avenue, across from Maritime Heritage Park.
- Removal of parking on both sides of Holly Street west of Whatcom Creek.
- Eliminating the turn lane on Holly at F streets to accommodate bike lanes.
Bellingham added bike lanes on Holly Street from Ellis to Bay streets in May 2024 as part of a long-sought effort to encourage more cyclists by making it easier and safer to ride downtown. In 2019, bike lanes were added to Chestnut Street, the main eastbound road that takes traffic uphill and away from downtown and the waterfront.
According to a 2023 Public Works Department survey, Holly Street carries 11,400 cars and trucks daily at North Garden Street, has a daily traffic volume of 12,100 cars and trucks at Cornwall Avenue, 10,500 vehicles near Maritime Heritage Park and sees 8,400 cars and trucks daily just east of Broadway.
In 2025, changes made to ease a dangerous situation where drivers making a right turn from Holly Street were failing to yield to bicyclists, causing crashes and near-collisions, according to previous Bellingham Herald reporting.
“Throughout the year of that pilot project we got lots of good input, made a few changes and came up with some of what we call interim improvements that we implemented at the end of the summer in 2025,” Hohmann told the council on Dec. 8.
Hohmann said that Public Works engineers are analyzing public input and will make suggestions for permanent solutions to the entire length of Holly Street in spring of 2026.
Construction is planned for 2027 or as funding becomes available, he said. About $1.5 million has been committed from an Economic Development Initiative grant.
This story was originally published December 29, 2025 at 5:20 AM.
