Attention northeast Lacey: Hogum Bay Road construction begins in March

Lacey City Council awarded a construction contract Thursday night, setting in motion a plan to reconstruct Hogum Bay Road in northeast Lacey over the next 17 months.

The council awarded the $6.25 million contract to SCI Infrastructure LLC of Seattle. The project is a full roadway reconstruction that will begin in March from about Marvin Road to north of 31st Avenue, and will include new curbs, gutters, sidewalks and bike lanes. The work also will create a roundabout at Hogum Bay Road and Willamette Drive Northeast.

Hogum Bay Road is in need of work, according to the city’s “state of the streets” report for 2016, which shows the road has a pavement condition index in the 30s. A new street has a PCI of 100, while a road under 50 is considered failing.

The council was unanimous in its decision to award the contract, but still asked questions about how traffic would be accommodated during construction and whether the new roundabout would stand up to truck traffic.

City Engineer Roger Schoessel said the city will try to keep Hogum Bay Road open to traffic during construction. The roundabout work will be done at night.

As for whether the roundabout will stand up to truck traffic headed to distribution centers, it was designed for the “high left turn movement” of a truck trying to get around the road feature, he said. Schoessel also described the road reconstruction work as “robust” to handle those trucks.

Distribution centers for Harbor Wholesale Foods, Trader Joe’s and Medline Industries can be found at the north end of Hogum Bay Road.

Schoessel expects a lot of drivers will choose Marvin Road as an alternative route during construction.

That prompted Councilman Michael Steadman to ask for an update on Marvin Road construction. That street was recently widened, but isn’t finished due to the wet weather since the end of September, Schoessel said.

He said work crews need about five dry days to get that work completed.

This story was originally published February 10, 2017 at 3:38 PM with the headline "Attention northeast Lacey: Hogum Bay Road construction begins in March."