Public Works Road Operations Division Manager Mike Lowman highlighted the breadth of Thurston County’s transportation systems, which are approximately $1 billion, during a meeting yesterday, February 21.
The system includes more than 1,026 centerline miles of roads, 107 miles of sidewalks, 150 bridges, and over 17,000 traffic signs.
“While our roadway inventory is impressive, we need to take care of it and that takes a lot of work. We categorize our roads into good, fair, and poor conditions,” said Lowman.
Currently, 554 miles are categorized as good. In the 100-point rating system, the “good” roads have a rating of 70 to 100. Pavement preservation techniques used on these roads include crack seal and chip seal.
Around 437 miles of the system were also categorized as fair, with a rating of 69 to 40. Techniques utilized on fair roads might include a thin overlay or grind and overlay pavement treatment.
Finally, 13 miles are currently in poor condition, with a rating of 39 to 0. These roads require reconstruction techniques that may cost up to $1.6 million per mile.
“The more degraded the roadway, the more expensive it is to maintain and repair, and that's why we prioritize keeping roads in good condition,” said Lowman.
“We are required by the Growth Management Act (GMA) to continuously monitor the level of traffic congestion in our transportation system to make sure it meets the requirements included in the comprehensive plan,” said County Engineer Matt Unzelman.
“If our transportation system can't meet those standards, then development will no longer be allowed to continue,” Unzelman added.
The county has conducted its Rural Mobility Study, which evaluated traffic capacity at intersections and existing and future traffic conditions.
Unzelman also shared this year’s ongoing and upcoming projects focused on improving traffic conditions.
2024 Projects:
Upcoming Projects:
“In terms of how we measure roadway safety, one way we do it is by tracking KSI— Killed or Seriously Injured. I know that's a brutal term, but that's the industry term,” shared Unzelman.
From 4 killed and 18 seriously injured motorists in 2015, Thurston County recorded 15 killed and 37 seriously injured in 2023.
“Unfortunately, the number of KSI collisions is trending upward. This is not unique in Thurston County. Other locals as well as the Washington State Department of Transportation and other agencies throughout the nation were all seeing an increase in KSI collisions,”
For 2017-2023 County Road Safety alone, the county has invested $5.5 million in safety-focused projects and $26 Million in other capital projects with safety elements.
Upcoming safety-focused improvements include curve signage, lighting, guardrails, speed feedback signs, and removing hazards from right-of-way.
“We’re experiencing a challenge in our system preservation and maintenance funding, construction costs continue to increase, material availability is delaying projects, recruiting tends to be a challenge in the tight labor market, and then we have a heavy workload with a lot of existing vacancies,” said Unzelman.
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mJ_Jolt24
Your report makes no mention of the $6.2Million "Road Levy Shift/Diversion Funding" amount that was mentioned and how that relates to the "PROJECTED REVENUE = $26.9M" of the Road Fund and the graph showing the potential Road Fund deficit upcoming.
Friday, February 23 Report this