Lacey awards $9.49 million contract to extend College Street, schedule aims for 2026 completion

The Lacey City Council on Jan. 21 awarded the contract to build the College Street Northeast Extension to Active Construction Inc. of Puyallup for $9,485,484.99, a bid roughly 5% under the engineer’s estimate. Council voted unanimously to approve the award.

The project will extend College Street from 8th Avenue NE to 15th Avenue NE, realign the intersection at 6th Avenue, reconstruct 6th Avenue, and perform a grind-and-overlay with a road diet (four lanes to three lanes with bike lanes) on College Street between Martin Way and 6th Avenue. City transportation engineer Chris Dover presented the project and the staff recommendation to award the contract; construction is scheduled to begin in March 2025 and conclude in summer 2026.

Why it matters: the extension is a long‑planned corridor improvement expected to reduce neighborhood cut-through traffic, replace aging utilities, and improve multimodal connections in a corridor that serves multiple schools and the district office.

Project scope and funding: staff outlined four primary components and a budget breakdown: the new street extension (~$4.5 million), water-main improvements (~$2.6 million, including replacement of asbestos‑cement main and main extension), sanitary sewer work (~$1.1 million, including gravity sewer and decommissioning lift station 27), and roadway maintenance (~$1.2 million). Staff said Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) grant funds will cover about $2,500,000 of the project and about $2,000,000 will come from the Arterial Street Fund; staff reported a total of 10 bids were received for the work and the contract includes 250 working days.

Construction impacts and schedule: Dover said College Street may be closed in segments for substantial grading and utility relocation (potentially up to 60 working days for one section). Major paving near school frontages is scheduled during summer break, and staff said they have coordinated with North Thurston Public Schools and will invite intercity transit and other stakeholders to preconstruction meetings. Staff will replace existing fencing in affected backyards and will install street trees and planters; some existing trees likely will be removed, and staff said parallel parking opportunities will remain in portions of the corridor.

Council questions and neighborhood concerns: council members asked about tree removals, temporary traffic diverters in adjacent neighborhoods and whether those diverters would remain (staff said diverters are a temporary installation and residents would be given an opportunity to vote on keeping them after project completion), and whether adjacent residents would retain some off‑street parking access.

Vote and contract award: council moved and seconded the award motion and approved it unanimously. Construction is expected to start in March 2025 and conclude summer 2026; the contract requires 250 working days.