I-90 — Eastgate to Issaquah

South of the Bellevue College campus in Eastgate, I-90 meets 142nd Place Southeast by direct ramps off its high-occupancy vehicle lanes [1]. Near the former Bellevue Airfield the freeway turns southeast and runs downhill off Cougar Mountain, following the shore of Lake Sammamish toward Issaquah [1]. At the lake's south end, northwest of downtown Issaquah, it passes through Lake Sammamish State Park and meets SR 900 [1]. The freeway then skirts the upper side of downtown Issaquah, dodging south and back north to clear the ridge of Issaquah Highlands and western Tiger Mountain [1]. Issaquah lies in a valley that the freeway cuts through, with the Sammamish Plateau above it on one side and the Issaquah Alps on the other [2]. Squak Valley was an older name for the area, drawn from the same Native placename the city later anglicized [2]. Railways came to the town, which was briefly renamed Gilman for Daniel Hunt Gilman, and the legislature incorporated it on April 29, 1892 [2]. This stretch sits within the Mountains to Sound Greenway [1] [2].