College Street project begins

Well – Almost.

The City of Lacey has scheduled an open house to inform residents of Lacey about the most significant and congestion-building street project, since the city closed down Sleater-Kinney for a full rebuild in the 1980’s.

In the plans since 2004, the College Street Improvement Project is about to get underway, with an Open House on Thursday, May 15, to explain the initial phase – – the construction of a roundabout on 22nd Avenue and College Street.

College Street is the major North South arterial for the City of Lacey.   It carries nearly 33,000 cars each day with traffic extremely high during peak travel hours.

There are 130 driveways and 24 T intersections from Lacey Boulevard to 37th Avenue, making left turn stops which not only slow down traffic behind them, but is also dangerous.

The open house is primarily designed to inform the public about the 22nd Avenue Roundabout.   The city is currently in the right-of-way acquisition phase, with 14 pieces of property needed, including three houses.  The total cost of the 22nd Avenue Roundabout is estimated to be about $3.3 million.

That project is scheduled to begin construction in 2016.