From a traffic management perspective, this is a desirable project. The tangled mess of Cleveland/North/Capitol/Custer needs some help, and this is a logical improvement.
But the cost of over $50 million certainly makes me gulp. That's more than Olympia spend for the new 4th Avenue Bridge, rebuilt after the Nisqually earthquake. It's more than the new (ugly) Olympia City Hall.
I agree that if a route is available that avoids cutting a mature forest, that's better.
Finally I'll note that Tumwater is undertaking this project, even though they estimate that 80% of the traffic using it originates outside of Tumwater. That's a case for regional transportation impact fees, so that growth that occurs in Olympia or Thurston County which imposes costs on Tumwater is charged the cost of the relevant impacts. Olympia recently scrapped the Log Cabin Road extension, a project that would have mostly served Lacey residents; the unfair apportionment of costs was one contributing factor to the abandonment.
Tell your legislators that growth must pay for growth. They need to adopt statewide transportation impact fees on new construction, to pay the costs of road improvements wherever they are needed, regardless of what jurisdiction the building occurs in. Otherwise the rest of us bear the costs of growth, either through more congested roads or through higher taxes. Or both.
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