City of Lakewood announcement.
Due to the road improvement work going on around the entrance to Fort Steilacoom Park, the city had to build a temporary entrance to the park.
The entrance will be altered again on May 30, 2023.
Visitors to Fort Steilacoom Park will now need to take Hipkins Road to North Way and then Elwood Drive and enter Fort Steilacoom Park from a temporary entrance off Elwood Drive.
The change is necessary for the city’s contractor to reconstruct access to the ballfield parking lot in the park and connect the curbs and sidewalks to the existing park entrance for a new roundabout that will be built at the intersection of 87th/Dresden/Elwood.
To do this work the temporary entrance that was opened May 15 needs to shift.
Detour signs will be placed in the area to help direct traffic. Drivers are encouraged to drive slow, obey signs and pay attention to road changes.
We know many people visit Fort Steilacoom Park and this work disrupts people’s routines. We appreciate the public’s patience during this temporary detour while we make the roads leading into the park safer for pedestrians and drivers.
About the project
Work started May 15 on this project with the closure of 87th Avenue SW, a portion of Dresden Lane SW and Elwood Drive SW.
Preliminary work included the removal of 36 trees from the right-of-way. The city took additional time to survey the trees, saving those that may have otherwise come down previously. Once work is complete, 62 Garry Oaks will be planted throughout the project area to return tree cover and increase the overall tree canopy.
This project will add sidewalks to the southwest side of Angle Lane, and the west side of Elwood Drive. The chicanes are being removed and a roundabout built at the Elwood/Dresden/87th intersection.
Construction is anticipated to last until early spring of 2024. During construction, the road will be open to single lane of one-way traffic. The roads will reopen July 15 for SummerFEST.
How do these road closures affect the access to the Farmer’s Market??
I have lived in Lakewood for 45+ yrs and one of the best part of Lakewood was its beautiful lakes and dare I say LakeWOOD, really wood should be deleted from our name. With the newly done sidewalks on Steilacoom done. Why did they need sidewalks on both sides of the road? Then every place we go are the BELOVED round abouts. After nearly two yrs of main thur o ways in some form of construction. We will now endure another yr of construction and removal of more trees, so that Angle can have MUCH NEEDED SIDEWALKS. Because after 45 yrs of traveling these roads I’ve seen so many people walking down these roads. HA. So instead of fixing the chuck holes thru out the area that nearly bottom out my truck. We will be able to use those SIDEWALKS to walk to my local mechanic. The road I live on has at least five tire ripping out road, that someone in the neighborhood has been kind enough to circle these areas just to warn all who travel. From that rd we hit another street that has so many ups and downs on the rd it’s like riding a Rollercoaster, but minus the charge. In 45 yrs of Lakewood I’ve been so proud of are natural beauty, but now I would just as soon tell people to go through Tacoma and skip this 1,2,3,4,5, now 6 round abouts in Lakes, which is a much more accurate name then (LAKEWOOD). With the mas rd changes and the enormous new homes being built, so that we can rip out more trees. There are so many reasons to vacate this town, all you’ve done is added just one more.