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 finance forecasts. TRPC staff told the council that removing the connection would free roughly $10 million in the RTP financial forecast for other projects but could shift PM‑peak traffic onto alternative routes and increase vehicle volumes on corridors such as Yelm Highway, Bridal Road and I‑5 approaches. Staff emphasized the RTP model is a PM‑peak, regional view and does not capture some local conditions such as morning school drop‑offs or intersection signal timing.

At the meeting, TRPC’s Katrina Van Every laid out the corridor’s history — dating to studies in the 1980s and a 1998 East‑West Corridor study — and noted Olympia purchased LBA Woods in part to reserve land for a park and a potential future road connection. Van Every said Olympia later amended its comp plan to remove the connection, which prompted the regional discussion and requests to update the RTP to match local plans.

Council members repeatedly described a 2021 compromise: Olympia would study alternative connectivity strategies for southeast Olympia and the Log Cabin link would remain in the RTP until that study could demonstrate the road was unnecessary. Several council members urged Olympia to expedite that study. Mayor Andy Reiter and others said they would support removing the project if a robust study produced a viable alternative that preserved parkland and achieved regional travel goals.

Formal action and outcome: A motion to support a staff option that would remove the Log Cabin connection unless Olympia agreed in writing to conduct a regional analysis (Option 2) failed on a council vote (motion maker and seconder not specified in the meeting transcript). A subsequent motion to support leaving the Log Cabin Road connection in the RTP until a regional traffic analysis is conducted (Option 1) passed; the council directed its representatives to the Transportation Policy Board and Thurston Regional Planning Council to carry that position.

Discussion highlights and concerns: Councilors and staff stressed the RTP’s role in preserving long‑term regional commitments and in protecting projects already funded through 2030. Staff said all RTP projects are typically sponsored by the implementing jurisdiction; in the current draft TRPC staff updated the Log Cabin project sheet to note there was no sponsor and that Olympia is the responsible jurisdiction for implementation.

TRPC modeling presented by Van Every showed modest PM‑peak shifts in traffic volumes if Log Cabin were removed; some links would see more traffic, others less. Staff said mode split (the share of trips by walking, transit and driving) showed no material change within the model’s margin of error. TRPC staff and Lacey public works staff also emphasized the model does not capture transit service decisions or some local safety and intersection issues, and that utility and service access can be affected by the street network.

Public comments and equity language: Public speakers asked the council to oppose efforts to strip DEI language from regional transportation documents. Council members said their earlier guidance to TRPC and the Transportation Policy Board was intended to protect funded projects through 2030; given subsequent federal interpretations and evolving guidance, council members said they would not support weakening equity commitments and that the DEI language will remain in regional conversations.

Next steps: The council’s vote to retain Log Cabin in the RTP sends a clear signal to the city’s representatives on the Transportation Policy Board and to TRPC to continue pursuing a regional analysis before any removal. Councilors urged Olympia to accelerate the southeast connectivity study promised in prior years and asked TRPC staff to continue modeling and engagement so alternatives — if any — can be evaluated before future RTP updates.

Ending note: Council members acknowledged strong local feelings on both sides: the LBA Woods park advocates who oppose a road through that forested property and regional planners who worry about long‑term connectivity and the precedent of removing decades‑old corridors without a study.