Ensign Road is to be closed Thursday

Homeless living along the road to be relocated

Posted

Olympia is warning community members and passing motorists of Ensign Road’s closure on Thursday, October 6, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

From Martin Way to Providence Lane, the road closure will accommodate the city’s Homeless Response Team (HRT) to help more individuals living in vehicles parked along the road to move to Quince Street Village, with the vehicles they leave behind being towed to a salvage yard.

“Once a vehicle is towed to the salvage yard, the space it occupied on Ensign Road will be cleaned, and cement ecological blocks will be placed in it,” the city explained in a press release.

The city clarified that the people living on Ensign Road had been informed of the city’s plans to clear the road of parking two months ago, with all vehicles parked along the road expected to be removed by mid-October. HRT will distribute storage containers to the vehicle occupants for the belongings they will bring to Quince Street.

More closures are expected during the next two weeks, which the city will schedule on Wednesdays and Thursdays to move more people from Ensign Road to Quince Street Village.

“Permanently clearing the vehicles from the right-of-way on Ensign Road gives emergency vehicles unobstructed access to Providence St. Peter Hospital,” the city said.

Access to Providence Mother Joseph Care Center, South Sound Oral Surgery, and Laboratories Northwest will still be available on Ensign Road via Lilly Road on the day of the closure, Olympia assured.

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  • pheong

    High time. The additional response time should never have been ignored. The impassable sidewalks would never have been tolerated for such a length of time anywhere near the downtown. Yes, park your camper. Yes, reside in it. No, do not risk the safety of others in so many ways simply for the lack of oversight and your own willingness to disregard your impact upon others. Begone and pick up your trash.

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