U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) today praised the City of Bellevue’s Bel-Red Corridor at a hearing of the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, which she chairs. The hearing was held to examine the Obama Administration’s plans to encourage sustainable community development across the country.

Murray, who visited the Corridor last year, held Bellevue’s project up as a national model for the type of comprehensive approach to sustainable, environmentally-conscious development that needs to be encouraged across the country.

“The Bel-Red Corridor is a perfect example of the type of comprehensive approach to sustainable, environmentally-conscious development we are trying to encourage with the Sustainable Communities initiative,” Senator Murray said while chairing the hearing. “The city of Bellevue has done a great job of melding plans for housing, transportation and private investment to support economic growth and job creation. We need to make sure federal policy is supporting great local initiatives like the Bel-Red Corridor.”

Murray directed her remarks at U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan who were witnesses at the hearing.

“The Bel-Red vision is ambitious. Taking the vision to the next step requires substantial public and private investments in all types of infrastructure”, said Bellevue Mayor Don Davidson. “We think it is exactly the type of program envisioned by the Sustainable Communities Partnership.”