WSDOT Engineers Preparing to Send North Lewis County Industrial Access Recommendations to Legislature

The North Lewis County Industrial Access transportation study is close to its conclusion, according to Centralia City Engineer Patty Page, who spoke to the Centralia City Council about the study during last Tuesday’s meeting. 

Page, along with Washington state Department of Transportation (WSDOT) engineers Laurie Lebowsky-Young and Richard Warren, have been conducting stakeholder meetings and gathering community input while assessing intersections from Grand Mound to Harrison Avenue in Centralia.

Four separate stakeholder meetings were held between the fall of 2022 and spring of 2023 in addition to online and in-person open houses. 

The goal of the meetings was to assess which possible short- and long-term projects could improve industrial access for freight traffic in the region and improve safety. 

“We finished all our stakeholder meetings and they are getting ready to write their final report to send to the Legislature of the recommended projects,” Page said. 

Now that the engineers have drafted the report, stakeholders will be reviewing it until the beginning of August. By Aug. 31, the report will be finalized and sent off to the Legislature for consideration. 

Additionally, an online public survey was held, and based on 280 responses received, the most preferred potential improvement project would be a new Interstate 5 interchange. After that, the Westside Connector project was favored, followed by bike lane and pedestrian improvements, then traffic flow improvements on Harrison Avenue and finally, local road network improvements.

A new I-5 interchange will require both state and federal review and approval. Three potential sites were being considered for the new interchange: 216th Avenue, 222nd Avenue and Kuper Road. 

Of the three options, engineers recommend moving forward with plans to build the interchange at 216th Avenue. The estimated cost for the new interchange is $100 million. 

For the traffic flow improvements on Harrison Avenue, the engineers recommended installing adaptive light signals and a center curb median along with consolidating driveways and making some right-in and right-out driveways. The estimated cost of these improvements is $1.2 million, per 2023 construction figures. 

Local road network improvements being considered are connecting Blair Road to Hobson Road and extending Gallagher Road north to Harrison Avenue. 

The Blair Road extension is not actually being recommended due to it potentially costing $165 million, among other issues, Warren said. 

“There are a lot of challenges along there too, a number of steep slopes and environmental challenges along with that. We were asked to take a look at it by our stakeholders, and we did,” Warren said. 

The Gallagher Road extension doesn’t face the same environmental challenges and is estimated to cost $20 million. 

As for the Westside Connector project, the new bridge over the Chehalis River would connect South Scheuber Road and Oakland Avenue. 

The bridge would have bike and pedestrian separation. Both Scheuber and Oakland would also need improvements. It is estimated to cost around $60 million. 

“Because there would be a bridge over the Chehalis River, that would require coordination and input from the Tribe as well,” Warren said of the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation. 

When it comes to other bike and pedestrian improvements, the focus would be for installing new sidewalks on Galvin Road, pedestrian signals and other improvements on Harrison Avenue. These projects would cost an estimated $3.3 million.