Find another route: Roads closed for construction of $82 million state office building

Several Olympia streets will be closed over the next month to accommodate construction of the state office building on the block bordered by Capitol Way, 11th Avenue, Union Avenue and Columbia Street.

Both eastbound lanes and one westbound lane of Union Avenue between Capitol Way and Columbia Street will be closed Tuesday through Friday (Aug. 30 through Sept. 2) as well as Sept. 27-28 for underground utility work, according to a news release from the state Department of Enterprise Services.

The other westbound lane of Union Avenue, nearest to the sidewalk, will remain open, as will the entrances to the Columbia Street parking garage and the sandwich shop at Capitol Way and Union Avenue. Parking stalls along the westbound lane of Union Avenue also will remain open.

The utility work will require closing the southbound lane of Columbia Street between 10th Avenue and Union Avenue during those same dates. Columbia Street between Union Avenue and 11th Avenue is already closed and will likely remain so for the duration of the project, which is scheduled for completion in about a year.

There also will be a one-day closure of 11th Avenue between Capitol Way and Water Street Southwest from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday (Aug. 31) for a concrete pour on the fifth floor of the new building. As with previous 11th Avenue closures, this one will cause a temporary change to the route used by Intercity Transit’s Dash shuttle bus.

The project is expected to reach a milestone the week of Sept. 5 when the last concrete pour takes place on the roof deck. The project will move into the next phase, which includes the installation of the fire protection, electrical, plumbing and mechanical systems and the stone cladding on the building envelope, and other tasks.

The $82 million project remains on schedule and on budget, according to DES.

This story was originally published August 29, 2016 at 3:19 PM with the headline "Find another route: Roads closed for construction of $82 million state office building."