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Sewer repair to disrupt Sleater-Kinney traffic

Protective liner: 25,000 vehicles daily use busy Lacey street

The Olympian | • Published November 14, 2009

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LACEY – An emergency sewer repair project scheduled to start Tuesday will create major traffic disruptions on a busy stretch of Sleater-Kinney Road for three days.

Workers with Michels Corp. of Salem, Ore., will install a protective liner inside a 1,000-foot section of the aging sewer main that runs 20 feet under the thoroughfare between Pacific Avenue and Sixth Avenue Southeast. The line was installed in the 1970s, and the acids in the wastewater it carries have been eating away at the concrete, city engineer Roger Schoessel said. The city will pay the contractor $183,597 for the work.

The section of street serves an average of more than 25,000 vehicles a day, according to a recent city traffic count, making it one of the busiest areas in Lacey.

Workers will use an above-ground bypass line to carry the sewage while the main line is being repaired.

The work will begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday and continue nonstop until the close of business Thursday.

“Once we start, we can’t stop until it’s done,” Schoessel said.

The bypass line will run along Sleater-Kinney, cross Seventh Avenue and tie back into the main line through a manhole in the middle of the intersection of Sleater-Kinney and Sixth.

Northbound traffic on Sleater-Kinney will be reduced to one lane from just north of Pacific Avenue to just north of Sixth. Driveways on the east side of Sleater-Kinney will be closed if there’s alternative access.

Right turns will be prohibited from Sleater-Kinney onto Sixth; left turns will not be allowed from Sixth to Sleater-Kinney. Drivers will be able to reach Sixth from Sleater-Kinney using Seventh and Golf Club Road as a detour. They will cross over the bypass line crossing Seventh Avenue using a temporary ramp.

Flaggers will help direct traffic.

Intercity Transit stops on Sixth and on Sleater-Kinney will be closed to routes 60, 64, and 66 during the work.

Long delays are expected, and drivers are encouraged to use different routes.

For more information, call the Lacey Public Works Department at 360-491-5600.