Thurston Regional Planning Council outlines interim Regional Transportation Plan update; final action expected July

A representative of the Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC) presented an interim update to the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) at the Lacey Planning Commission meeting on May 28 and described regional projects, targets and recent public comments.

"Our region's planned land use and roadway capacity improvements alone will not be sufficient to meet our regionally adopted targets," Allison Osterburn, planning manager at TRPC, told the commission. The RTP looks ahead to 2050, addresses multiple modes (driving, walking, biking, transit, marine and air), and must be financially constrained — meaning the plan includes projects TRPC expects can be funded over the planning horizon.

Osterburn said the RTP includes about 80 regional projects intended to address future needs, including multimodal improvements such as College Street widening, Martin Way/I‑5 interchange work, Marvin Road widening, new street connections in Hawkes Prairie and extensions to regional trails (including the Karen Fraser Woodland Trail). The plan also identifies transit projects, including an East Spartan Way Gateway transit facility and potential expansion of Intercity Transit's intercounty express service.

TRPC staff described the update as interim in this cycle because many jurisdictions — including Lacey — are revising comprehensive plans simultaneously. TRPC ran a public comment period from April 11 to May 9 and received nearly 300 comments; the most frequent topic was Log Cabin Road extension and its potential impact on LBA Woods Park, a controversial issue tied to land use and connectivity in southeast Olympia.

Osterburn said the council expects to take final action on the RTP in July and that TRPC will return responses to public comments to the transportation policy board in June. She noted the plan contains new material on safety, equity and climate-related planning and emphasized the regional nature of many projects: "We look a lot at how to plan together on the local and state networks as a cohesive system."

Commissioners asked about the plan's financial forecast and the sources of funding; Osterburn said the forecast includes local, state and federal sources and that the RTP is constrained to projects that have realistic funding paths. A commissioner asked whether recent changes at the federal level or within FTA funding could reduce expected funds; TRPC staff said there is uncertainty but no immediate change to the region's funding forecast as of the RTP release.

Commissioners also discussed transit efficiency, fleet options and system redesign: TRPC noted Intercity Transit is pursuing service changes and fleet electrification over time; a member of Intercity Transit present at the meeting offered to brief the commission on operational and service-design issues in a future meeting.

No formal action was taken by the Planning Commission on the RTP update; TRPC is scheduled to present final materials to its council for adoption in July.