Lacey council urges study before removing Log Cabin Road from regional plan; rejects immediate removal

The Lacey City Council on July 8 voted to keep the Log Cabin Road connection in the Thurston Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) and asked that a regional traffic analysis be completed before any decision to remove the project from the regional plan.

Council members discussed competing priorities — long‑standing regional planning commitments and residents’ concerns about removing trees and fragmenting LBA Woods Park — before voting to retain the corridor as a placeholder until a study produces alternatives or shows the connection is unnecessary.

The debate followed public comment urging the council to resist removal of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) language from regional plans. Jeff Browning, a Lacey resident, and Tawanna Reed of the NAACP of Thurston County joined other speakers in urging officials not to eliminate DEI references. Council members and TRPC staff said the DEI discussion and the Log Cabin issue are related but distinct: DEI language concerns arose because the Transportation Policy Board explored whether certain plan language might affect federal compliance and funding; Log Cabin is a decades‑old regional corridor designation that TRPC staff say supports east‑west connectivity across Thurston County.

Why it matters: Log Cabin Road has been a designated regional east‑west corridor for decades and was used in regional modeling and…