College Street in Lacey will be reduced to 2 lanes during major construction project

The countdown to widen a section of College Street Southeast and add a roundabout at 22nd Avenue Southeast began Thursday night after Lacey City Council awarded the $5.9 million construction contract.

The city’s transportation manager, Martin Hoppe, expects the work to begin in the next 30 days, which puts the start date at the end of April or early May. It will continue until fall 2020, he said.

The work will widen College Street between 18th Avenue Southeast and 25th Avenue Southeast and add the roundabout at 22nd Avenue. The contractor, Active Construction of Puyallup, will begin by focusing on underground utilities — water lines, sewer and private utilities — which will reduce College Street to two lanes, Hoppe said.

The contractor will focus on work near Mountain View Elementary during summer break and a parking lot will be expanded at the school over an existing baseball field. That field will be moved to soccer fields at the school, Hoppe said.

A crosswalk that serves the school across College Street will remain in place, he said.

Hoppe also said the school will separate parents and school bus traffic, although the specifics of that plan weren’t mentioned during the City Council meeting.

And then Councilman Lenny Greenstein delivered some bad news.

He reminded the council that the city also will be resurfacing College Street this summer between 37th Avenue Southeast and Rainier Road Southeast. Not only there, but Yelm Highway between Ruddell Road and Indian Summer Golf and Country Club also will be resurfaced, Hoppe added.

Bids for the resurfacing work were advertised Thursday, he said.

Public works director Scott Egger reminded the council about alternative forms of transportation, such as riding a bicycle on the Chehalis-Western Trail, which parallels College Street, or doing the same on the north-south route of Judd Street.

“I know this is going to be tough, but it’s also long overdue,” Lacey Mayor Andy Ryder said, adding the city started discussing the widening project in 2003.

“When it’s done, we’re going to look back on it and say ‘Thank goodness we did it,’” Ryder said.

This story was originally published March 28, 2019 at 9:01 PM.