County postpones closure of Chehalis Western Trail after public criticizes plan
Thurston County postponed plans to temporarily close a 1.5-mile portion of the Chehalis Western Trail after receiving critical public feedback.
On Wednesday, the county’s Public Works Department officially closed the trail between 89th Avenue Southeast and 103rd Avenue to do maintenance work, build two bridges, and enhance fish passage, the Olympian previously reported.
However, some residents criticized how the county managed what was announced to be a two-month closure, prompting officials to review the project and its communication with the public during a commission meeting on Thursday.
County engineer Scott Lindblom told the commissioners that Public Works set the July 14 to Sept. 15 closure dates based on an educated guess. After meeting with the contractor for the project on Tuesday, he said he doesn’t expect them to start work until the end of the month.
“Right now, the trail is open,” Lindblom said Thursday. “The signs I believe are up still say ‘trail closed,’ but people can go down there. There is no work going on right now.”
Public Works director Jennifer Walker said her department plans to send out updated notices on the closure dates. In a Friday news release, project manager Marcus Storvick said the trail will stay open until at least July 25.
The news release says trail signs announcing the closure have been removed from the area and will be replaced when a new date is determined.
“We try to avoid closures along the trail during summer months,” Storvick said in the release. “However, this project requires in-water work where spawning fish are present in the fall. That means we have a limited window to complete construction this summer.”
On Tuesday, Olympia resident Karen Messmer voiced her dismay about the closure during the public comment period at the regular County Commission board meeting. She said she felt the closure was ill-timed in the middle of prime cycling season and will impact people on work commutes.
“The extreme approach of a complete trail closure for two entire months is unwarranted,” Messmer said. “Please ask your Public Works staff to change the project timing, provide a detour and stop this closure.”
In addition to explaining the closure dates on Thursday, Lindblom and Walker detailed why staff did not recommend a detour.
Lindblom said staff considered a 4.5-mile detour via 103rd Avenue, Stedman Road, Rainier Road, Fire Tree Road and 89th Avenue. However, they judged this detour to be inappropriate for regular users of the trail.
“What we’re responsible for is considering trail users of all abilities,” Lindblom said. “We are not preventing anybody from using this route, but it would be a disservice to suggest this is a viable alternate route that is equivalent to the trail.”
He said some of these roads are narrow while the wider ones may have drivers traveling at higher speeds, making it a risk for hikers and cyclists alike.
Staff also considered Latigo Street as a potential detour route since it is parallel to the trail. However, they could not recommend it because it will be an active construction zone with traffic, Lindblom said.
“Logic would say this is a no-brainer and we’re not stopping people from using it if they so choose,” Lindblom said. “If they choose to do that, they will follow traffic laws. Flaggers will direct them through just like we do with any other county road.”
In response to public feedback, Walker said the county will move up the closure on the south end because maintenance work is occurring closer to 93rd Avenue rather than 103rd Avenue.
This trail maintenance will occur separately from the fish passage enhancement project further north near 89th Avenue. She told the commission this work will take about three weeks once it starts.
“There will be no getting around that,” Walker said. “Once that’s done, there’s potential to get around on Latigo Street for some.”
