•  2003 Project Highlights
•  Evaluation Criteria

SR 510 - I-5 to Pacific Avenue Widening

Thurston County

Design: Construction Management: Schedule: Cost: Engineers Estimate: $9,165,180 Contract Award Amount: $7,696,599 Estimated cost for completion: A number of contract items are subject to review, therefore, no estimated final cost is being provided. The overall project schedule and budget are very near planned despite the delays due to utility relocation. Better commitments from the utility companies to relocate in a timely manner would have made an improvement to the design. It is important to note that under contract, the City of Lacey added over $500,000 to the project for the construction of 9,400 feet of reclaimed waterline. Good communications and working  relationship between the construction administration team and the contractor's team resulted in minimizing costs and overall schedule impacts. The project overran working days by working through the planned winter shutdown in order to recover the project schedule delay caused by utility relocation. The original planned completion for this project was August of 2003. All roadway improvements were completed in August 2003 and project clean up should be completed in September.

This project reduces traffic congestion by adding a new lane in each direction to SR 510 starting in the City of Lacey and extending into Thurston County. The project limits are between Interstate 5 and Pacific Avenue on SR 510 and between Galaxy and River Ridge on Martin Way. A two-way left turn lane was constructed throughout the corridor. This project also included a new signal at 3rd Avenue, updated signals at Quinault, Department of Natural Resources, Martin Way and Steilacoom Road, additional turn lanes at Martin Way and Steilacoom, sidewalks, bike lanes, and a total stormwater retrofit to accommodate water quality and quantity.

Construction Summary

Overall, the project went according to schedule with work beginning in spring 2002 and being completed in fall 2003. There was a great relationship between the contractor and the construction administration team. Project issues were identified on a weekly basis allowing open communication to resolve issues on a timely basis and therefore, minimizing cost and overall schedule impacts.

The number of working days and staging of the project was changed to accommodate the relocation of numerous utilities. Despite the best efforts of the design team to identify and relocate utilities, time commitments for construction of utility relocation were not met. The utility relocation directly conflicted with the project construction staging, impacting the project schedule. Ideally, utilities would be relocated prior to the start of the project construction. Realistically, utility companies wait until the right-of-way is purchased and in this case, the site clearing is complete before beginning relocation work. The contractor worked around the utilities until all relocations were completed in June 2003.

The project included the construction of a two-lane roundabout at the intersection of Marvin Road (SR 510) and Pacific Avenue. This intersection was closed and traffic detoured for five weeks. The closure allowed the contractor to complete the work approximately two months faster than if constructed under traffic conditions. There was an extensive public involvement phase during the design of the project. This technique can and has been repeated on other projects, however, on future projects it would be advisable to coordinate with property owners and business owners specifically impacted by detouring traffic.

During the project, our team worked diligently to keep the public informed. A project website was maintained during the construction. There were multiple updates provided to the public through media contacts and flyers. Before paving, notification was provided to impacted customers in the form of a letter. Additionally, variable message signs were used to inform the public of up coming traffic delays.

Contractor:
Scarsella Bros.

WSDOT Contact:
Troy Cowan, PE
Phone:  (360) 753-3633

back to top