Is yours one of the 40,000 vehicles on Martin Way each day?

Community members are invited to provide input and feedback on plans for the Martin Way Corridor in an online public meeting on Thursday, May 12, 5:30 p.m.

As part of the Martin Way Corridor Study conducted jointly by the Thurston Regional Planning Council, Thurston County, the City of Olympia, the City of Lacey and Intercity Transit; the meeting will discuss potential changes to the thoroughfare.

“The purpose of this project is to develop a coordinated vision for the future of Martin Way,” explained the study’s website, “and identify the types of infrastructure improvements, regulatory changes, and other tools that may be necessary to ensure the corridor meets the needs of the community in the future.”

Community members can also participate in the study’s online survey.

The study’s goals, according to the website, involve the following:

• Improve safety and local mobility for all users
  • Walking – Make walking safer and easier
  • Bus – Make riding the bus safer and easier
  • Bicycling – Make biking safer and easier
• Balance needs and accommodate regional mobility
  • Bus – Make riding the bus faster
  • Car – Keep traffic moving through the corridor
• Enhance accessibility and connectivity
  • Businesses – Maintain local business access
  • Disabilities – Make it easier for people with disabilities to get around
  • Connections – Improve connections to trails and other bicycle facilities
• Support inclusive growth
  • Housing – Increase the number of people living in the corridor
  • Affordability – Increase housing affordability
  • Vibrancy – Increase investment and vibrancy
• Improve the corridor’s visual appeal and build a sense of place and ownership
  • Visual Appeal – Improve Martin Way’s visual appeal
  • Public Spaces – Increase access to public space and amenities
  • Community Engagement – Increase community involvement and a feeling of ownership in the corridor

The Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC) reported that about 40,000 vehicles use the corridor daily, ranging from public transportation, cargo vehicles and private vehicles, pointing out that with traffic going at 40 miles per hour in some places, Martin Way can be “can feel unsafe and unfriendly” to pedestrians and bicyclists who also use the road.

There are also 9,000 residents living along Martin Way, according to the report, with 13,000 jobs; with 3,000 housing units and 6,000 jobs expected over 25 years.

“Corridor residents are more diverse, and more likely to experience poverty and be cost burdened (spending more than 30 percent of household income on housing, including utilities),” TRPC pointed out, “than the overall population in Lacey, Olympia, and Thurston County as a whole.”

The planning council will use the input gathered during the public meeting to form an action plan “to guide future work on the Martin Way Corridor.”