Repairing Olympic Highway

Cracked, broken Olympic Highway North is a step closer to a deep $5 million makeover.

The Shelton City Council is slated to award a design contract for the project at its meeting at

6 p.m. Tuesday at the Shelton Civic Center. The council heard a presentation on the ambitious project by Aaron Nix, the city's assistant public works director, at its April 1 meeting.

"This is one of the biggest projects that we have forthcoming, all awarded via grant money," Nix told the council.

In 2022, the city applied for federal money through the Highway Safety Improvement Program to improve pedestrian safety, as outlined in its Local Road Safety Plan. Four of the projects were selected for funding: intersection improvements at I Street and Olympic Highway North; a midblock crossing relocation at Olympic Highway South and Bellevue Avenue; rapid flashing beacons at West Railroad Avenue and Third Street; and traffic signal evaluations and options assessment at West Railroad Avenue and Seventh Street.

In 2023, the city also applied for and secured funding from the state Transportation Improvement Board to repair the deteriorating road on Olympic Highway North between C Street and Wallace Kneeland Boulevard.

The city is taking the money earmarked for the improvements at I Street and Olympic Highway North and combining it with the $3.7 million it received for the OHN project, Nix said.

"And candidly, council, we don't think this is enough money," Nix said. "I'm going to be honest with you because the shape the road is in. There's going to be a lot of dig outs ... We're going to do everything we can to get the roadway fixed."

Along with the digging and repaving, the city also will have to add American with Disabilities Act improvements, Nix said, adding "so it's super expensive, obviously."

Olympic Highway North was paved over many times, Nix said. In about 2000, the road was "pulverized," he said.

"They dropped this ball on the concrete to basically break it up and then they paved over the top ... the geotechnical analysis will tell us much more as far as the extent of how deep we go," he said.

Last October, the city solicited engineer firms interested in the design contract for the project and interviewed four consultants. Transpo Group scored the highest in a summary and ranked as the most qualified firm for the project, according to the city report.

Nix said he worked with the firm when he was employed by the City of Renton. "They're very good, they know what they're doing, and they're professional," he said.

The council voted unanimously to put the design contract award on its April 15 action agenda.

"The reason we're bringing this to you today without a resolution is because it's really timely - we don't want to miss the construction window next year," City Manager Mark Ziegler said. "We're entering the construction window this year. We need to get the design done."

Following the completion of the design, the construction contract will hopefully be awarded in early 2026, Ziegler said.

"There's going to be a lot of public information because it's going to disrupt both pedestrian and vehicle traffic on Olympic Highway North next year," he said.