City of Lakewood announcement.
DETOUR UPDATE: Langlow Street, Walnut Street and Pine Street located west of Gravelly Lake Drive will be closed to through traffic at Gravelly Lake Drive beginning Monday at 8:00 a.m. This route has seen a dramatic increase in vehicular traffic since the closure of Gravelly Lake Drive at Veterans Drive. Unfortunately, the road was not made for this level of traffic coupled with the freezing temperatures. Local access to residents living within this closure will be available at the Veterans Drive/Pine Street intersection. They will need to use Interlaaken Drive to Washington Boulevard for access.
CONSTRUCTION UPDATE: Though the weather has been cold and a little rainy, the contractor has made progress this week and is still progressing toward paving the roadway between Veterans and Washington at the end of the month. This paving will include restoring the asphalt at Langlow, Pine and Walnut. They remain ahead of schedule.
Utility contractors will begin relocating overhead lines along Gravelly between Pacific Highway and Nyanza next week. Once complete, the contractor will install sidewalks, and pave the road back to provide full access between Pacific Highway and Nyanza. Utility crews will also be relocating a power pole in the intersection of Gravelly Lake Drive and Veterans Drive. This relocation will be needed prior to reopening the Gravelly Lake Drive and Veterans Drive.
Great idea, it is about 8 weeks overdue. But will it be enforced? My guess is it will not.
The construction on Gravelly Lake Drive has impacted many more citizens than just those few who live off Langlow, Walnut & Pine. None of the other roads used for detours are any better equiped to handle the increased traffic. Lake Steilacoom DR SW for instance should not consistently have a 3-5 car line to enter Gravelly Lake and this road is no more equipped to have that level of traffic.
Even roads that you would think are able to handle increased traffic are quickly falling apart. Has anyone from the City driven down 112th between Gravelly Lake and Bridgeport recently? With all of the extra traffic being pushed that direction due to the closure of Gravelly Lake it is quickly becoming a pothole mine field. Not only has it deteriorated significantly it has become challenging, during rush hour, to gain access from the side streets.
The City has planned poorly for the significant imapcts the Gravelly Lake construction has caused and this project seems to be greatly behind schedule only extending the impacts on the community.
The biggest catalyst for recent potholes has been the repeated freezing and thawing of ice. This has accelerated pothole formation all over the region. Several lanes of I-5 were closed this weekend near DuPont for the same reason.
Indeed, traffic from the project has accelerated wear on other roadways. Many of those will be repaired as the project advances, such as Washington Boulevard and this Pine/Ludlow ring.
The project remains on-schedule; Phase 1 was always to complete in February and that remains true. Future stages will actually progress ahead of scheduled due to successful funding.
Unfortunately the Gravelly Lake Drive boondoggle is being paid for with funds which continue to be pulled ($11.6M) out of the “Transportation Benefit District” (TBD)which was originally sold to the public to conduct road maintenance on about 6 different projects in central Lakewood. The City pled poverty in establishing the TBD ($20.00 added to your car tabs) in 2013/2014: no money for road maintenance which what we are already paying taxes for. Those 6 projects ($15M) are long gone and instead the TBD has become a transportation “slush fund” for unnecessary projects that will continue indefinitely until the public says STOP! How about “maintaining the damn roads before you do any other make work projects and use the current transportation funding to do it!” How about “establish a sunset clause for TBD and bring some accountability for what the City spends on what?”