Thursday, October 1, 2026
A nighttime traffic improvement project is going to impact a downtown intersection over the next few days.
A contractor is scheduled to begin work to upgrade the traffic signal at 4th Avenue and Plum Street on Thursday, May 28. The work is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.
"This work will include pulling wire, installing pedestrian signal poles and push-button poles, and excavating for conduit connections," said the City of Olympia Public Works Department in a construction and traffic alert.
Night work for the traffic signal upgrade could continue on Monday, June 1, through Tuesday, June 2, if needed.
"In addition, the contractor will remove and repair a section of sidewalk on the south side of 4th Avenue, west of Plum Street, during nighttime hours between June 1 and June 3, 2026. The sidewalk in this area will be closed during construction," said the Public Works Department.
Pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists should expect minor delays.
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Olyrkrgrrl
That intersection is way too narrow, now that they modified it to accomodate pedestrians and bikes... It narrows too far down and feels quite dangerous going through now. I wish they would have left even a few more inches between the two lanes of vehicles. Overcorrecting is not a good answer to the bikes vs cars issue. Some of us have to drive cars, and we don't want to get in an accident going thru such a narrow intersection! I'm glad they found a way to accomodate the bike lane, but...a little too tight. Since you asked...! Haha.
Thursday, May 28 Report this
General
The new design is unsafe for bikes. Going eastbound on fourth, bikes are invisible to traffic because they are separated by a wall of parked cars. So riding eastbound on fourth I have had several near misses with cars that just don’t see me. It’s a little safer now that it is still under construction and bikes have to slow down, but when they smooth out the bike lane and bikes go faster there will likely be some car-bike collisions. It happened in Seattle resulting in a big settlement.
Thursday, May 28 Report this
Snevets
Agreed w/Olyrkrgrrl & General. Also the lane at State & Plum is a huge lane failure..how many cars have hit that median especially at night?
Thursday, May 28 Report this
HotTractor
From the comment below about close calls with vehicles. I'm not a great fan the "wall oh cars", i mean at least you have a multi thousand pound thing between you and a vehicle with a "driver" on their phone, but it obscures bikes from vehicles until they are right at the intersection. Maybe to help, remove a few parking spots just before the interchange so bikes aren't obscured.
Thursday, May 28 Report this