Thursday, October 1, 2026
The Transportation Policy Board (TPB) tabled a proposal to remove the Log Cabin Road extension project from Thurston Regional Planning Council's long-range transportation plan.
Regional leaders called for more time to confer with city councils and complete a planned traffic study.
At the board's meeting on Wednesday, June 11, TPB Chair and Lacey Mayor Andy Ryder expressed concern over Olympia's proposal to remove the Log Cabin Road extension project, which is part of the Regional Transportation Plan's (RTP) long-term strategy to address the region's transportation needs over the next 25 years.
Olympia removed the project from its comprehensive plan in 2021 and has committed to studying future transportation needs in the area around 2030.
Katrina Van Every, Transportation Manager with the Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC), gave an update of the draft RTP.
She discussed the community feedback collected from the public engagement process held from April 11 to May 9. Of the 279 public comments received, 227 focused on the Log Cabin Road extension with most of them opposing its inclusion.
Van Every said TRPC staff updated their traffic model to analyze impacts if the connection is removed.
The traffic projections show a ripple effect across the regional network. Major corridors like Interstate 5, Ruddell Road, Morse-Merriman, Yelm Highway and Wiggins Road would see increased traffic. Nearby roads like Log Cabin Road and N Street heading into Tumwater, would experience fewer trips.
The biggest concern is Yelm Highway, where congestion is projected to worsen.
"It is going to become more congested and starting to see the level of service failures," Van Every noted.
Because Yelm Highway is an urban strategy corridor designed with bike lanes, sidewalks and transit service, the solution to widen the road is not a preferred alternative.
However, removing the Log Cabin extension from the plan would free up about $10 million in funding for other regional transportation projects.
In response to the traffic modeling projections, the staff recommended adding a new monitoring area along Yelm Highway from Henderson Boulevard to Rich Road.
Ryder pushed back on the proposal. He said going in a different direction when major investments have already been made in this corridor is "not very fair to your regional partners — Tumwater, Lacey and Thurston County."
Tumwater City Council member Peter Agabi, who sits on the board, questioned the feasibility of removing the project, noting current routes between Tumwater and Lacey are inefficient.
"If I'm going from Tumwater to Lacey, I have to go through Capitol Boulevard and downtown just to connect to Yelm Highway," he said. "It just doesn't seem feasible to remove it."
Olympia Council member Robert Vanderpool, who also sits on the board, said removing the Log Cabin Road extension from the RTP does not permanently eliminate it. He said the project is out of alignment with the city.
Vanderpool added that residents — about 227 of them — signed up in the public comment to advocate against it.
"The recommendation occurred because the public overwhelmingly does not want this to happen. They would like it to be removed," he said.
Vanderpool gave assurance that the project could be added again after the study.
Olympia's Transportation Director Sophie Stimson said the intent is to study the entire subarea of the southeast, local connections, and regional connections.
"What would have been a street connection will be studied. Is it needed? Is there a better alignment? The entire study will be comprehensive about street connectivity needs in the area," Stimson said.
The timeline would be around 2030, but they do not have a specific work program identified, yet.
"This connection — from Ruddell Road to College Street — has been part of the plan for over 30 years. Lacey faced similar pushback when we built our portion, but we moved forward because of the corridor's regional significance,” Ryder said.
Ryder added that removing the project before completing the study was premature. He emphasized the study must first recommend how to address traffic impacts before any decision is made.
"We need to wait for the study result and Olympia has to decide on how to mitigate (the traffic impacts). This impacts the entire region, not just Olympia," Ryder said.
The TPB voted to revisit the issue at its July meeting.
5 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
Tanker1982
So there has to be alternative to the Wiggins Road and Mullen intersection. It is a disaster. I understand , and support folks against the Log Cabin Road since I too, love the park with our grandchildren. I am not informed enough as to the affect of the road on the park. Regardless, a fix, maybe cheaper (roundabout) Has to be made on the intersection. Concerning is the sale of the beautiful farm land around the intersection and , I believe, developers interest in the wooded area east of Wiggins.
Thursday, June 12, 2025 Report this
Larry Dzieza
Olympia is not sponsoring a road project. It is sponsoring a study. The City and the Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC) get that, and both want the non-existent project pulled from the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP).
Why is it so hard for Mr. Ryder to understand that?
Mayor Ryder thinks that Olympia should not be allowed to remove the project from the RTP until the study proves the road is not needed. Olympia does not want to pre-judge the outcome of the study and wants the new Regional Transportation Plan to reflect the city’s position that there will be NO PLAN to build the Log Cabin Road Extension until the study it is sponsoring says it is the wisest course of action.
In 2021, the City of Olympia removed sponsorship of the Log Cabin Connection project from its plans and maps and replaced it with a study to be completed around 2030. The TRPC previously failed to reflect Olympia’s action in the current version of the RTP and kept the project in the plan and listed it as SPONSORED by the City of Olympia. That is undeniably incorrect.
Now the City of Olympia and Thurston Regional Planning Council (to whom the Transportation Policy Board makes recommendations) agree that the Log Cabin Connection project should be removed from the TRPC's 25 Year Regional Transportation Plan. But Mayor Ryder disagrees.
The city does support the study (#S32 in the draft Regional Transportation Plan) called “Olympia Street Connectivity” to be completed around 2030 that will determine whether a road through the LBA Woods is the wisest course of action.
So apparently, the Mayor of Lacey, Andy Ryder wants Olympia, who owns the land and has removed its sponsorship to build a road through an Olympia park, from having the facts correctly displayed in the Regional Transportation Plan.
Why is this happening?
Thursday, June 12, 2025 Report this
KarenM
. It does not make sense to claim that a road should be built simply because it has been on the map for many years. Things changed over the years. Those changes warrant a study but they do not warrant keeping a line on the map simply because it has been there for years. There are several routes to get east/west between Olympia and Lacey. The study should look at all possible routes and solutions.
The Regional Transportation Plan includes goals to reduce trips and that was not part of the plan 30 years ago. Simply planning for every increasing traffic is unsustainable from a climate perspective and from a funding perspective. There would never be enough money to build more and wider roads everywhere. And that isn't a quality environment for a community anyway.
Mayor Ryder, please settle down about this and respect the request from Olympia.
Thursday, June 12, 2025 Report this
MariaRuth
Despite the overwhelming popularity of the wooded acres of LBA Park & Woods and the overwhelming unpopularity of a road that would bisect and ruin the park, the Thurston Regional Transportation Board gave the thumbs up to removing the road from the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) for other reasons: it does not exist.
This road was removed from Olympia's Comprehensive Plan and transportation planning maps in 2021. It had been on maps and in plans since the 1990s when the LBA Woods was slated for a development of ~1,000 single-family homes. Without those homes, vehicles, and drivers--and with nearly 150 acres of beautiful mature forest added as parkland--Olympia councilmembers wisely replaced the road with a study.
That study will begin sometime around 2030 and will provide data on traffic patterns and transportation needs in southeast Olympia. The study might show that Log Cabin Road Extension to be the only and best option, but the county's transportation plan should not force that solution on Olympia. Doing so would set a dangerous precedent. No municipality in Thurston County should be forced to sponsor a project it has rejected. No elected official on TRPC or TPB should allow their community's values and priorities to be trumped for the sake of keeping a promise that no longer guarantees the best outcome.
Please support the TRPC's guidance to remove the road from the draft Regional Transportation Plan by emailing info@trpc.org
Friday, June 13, 2025 Report this
MartyKenney
I can’t believe there are still suggestions that we need to cut a road through LBA woods. The community DOES NOT WANT a road instead of mature forest. It was bad enough the city cut down the best part of the forest for a useless water tower.
I live in the area and would love for them to make some real roundabouts along Wiggins road at Herman and Morse Merriman. This alone would solve the problem. But adding a thoroughfare through the park is a surefire way to add major vehicular traffic through an area that is mostly residential. Yelm highway or pacific is the way people should be driving east to west.
Also, to say I-5 is overburdened and we should be using side streets to alleviate it is laughable.
Friday, June 13, 2025 Report this