Brace for delays: 2 years of Mullen Road construction slated to start Dec. 9
Construction on a well-traveled stretch of Mullen Road Southeast in Lacey will start Dec. 9, Thurston County announced Monday.
The project will affect about a mile of Mullen Road, between Timberline High School and Carpenter Road Southeast, and is expected to take two years.
The county says to expect delays, especially during commutes. Sections of Mullen Road — which is used by about 12,000 vehicles per day and is a walking route for students who attend three schools in the area — will be reduced to a single lane at times.
Work is planned Monday through Friday during regular business hours and also may be done on weekends, but never overnight because of the project’s proximity to homes, according to a county press release.
Planned changes, with the aim to “improve safety and traffic flow, reduce congestion, and accommodate for future growth,” include:
Widening the road;
Adding dedicated bicycle lanes;
Sidewalks;
Lighting;
Crosswalks;
A new roundabout at Mullen Road and Carpenter Road;
A left turn lane on to Mullen Road at Glen Terra Drive Southeast; and
A box culvert for a stream under Mullen Road, to improve flow and fish passage into Pattison Lake.
The $11 million project is funded by $2.5 million from the City of Lacey, $4.6 million from state grants, $2.8 million in federal grants, and $1.1 million from the Thurston County Road Fund, according to a page dedicated to the project on the county’s website.
The City of Lacey will contact any homeowners who could be affected by interruptions in utility service during construction, according to a Frequently Asked Questions document on the project.
Property owners won’t be required to connect to water and sewer utilities that will be reconstructed as part of the project, the document says, but valve boxes will be installed in front of homes “to allow for future connections to city utilities.”
Construction was planned to begin in January 2020, before the earlier start date was announced Monday.
“We’re excited to be ahead of our planned January start date. This way, we will be able to get some preliminary work out of the way while students from area schools are on winter break,” said Thurston County Civil Engineer Brian Meier in a press release.
More information about the project is available on the project page of the county’s website: https://www.co.thurston.wa.us/publicworks/Project_MullenRd.html
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