Thurston Regional Planning Council seeks consultant for road retrofit planning study

The Thurston Regional Planning Council is leading a collaborative initiative with local jurisdictions and stakeholders to develop science-based, data-driven tools for identifying and prioritizing cost-effective stormwater retrofit projects to improve water quality in South Puget Sound.

The TRPC seeks a qualified consultant to lead technical watershed analysis and stormwater capital facilities planning activities for a multijurisdictional project.

In a request for proposal for Thurston County Road Retrofit Planning Study, the TRPC stated that the county's growing population and increased travel demand are elevating the risk of pollutants in roadway runoff, which negatively impacts the region's rivers, streams, wetlands, and marine waters. The polluted runoff poses significant threats to public health and aquatic habitats, affecting fish, shellfish, and wildlife with contaminants like tire wear particles, petroleum products, and metals.

The project aims to improve water quality, protect treaty rights, and support fish and marine habitats.

The project encompasses the Puget Sound drainage areas of Thurston County, which are located within the Nisqually (WRIA 11), Deschutes (WRIA 13), and Kennedy-Goldsborough (WRIA 14) watersheds, which fall within the project partners’ municipal jurisdictions.

The project, supported by a $250,000 budget, would address Thurston County's growing stormwater management challenges.

In 2023, the Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC) secured a grant to develop a regional prioritization framework for identifying and implementing cost-effective stormwater retrofit projects.

This initiative will provide sustainable, data-driven tools to help plan and implement roadway stormwater retrofits, focusing on priority watersheds in Thurston County's Nisqually, Deschutes, and Kennedy-Goldsborough watersheds. The project aims to equip local governments with the resources to address the growing stormwater management challenges posed by the region's population growth and increased travel demands.

The TRPC is coordinating this project through a joint partner agreement with Thurston County and the cities of Lacey, Olympia, and Tumwater. As the project coordinator, TRPC is responsible for convening stakeholder committee meetings and managing communications among the partner jurisdictions, consultants, stakeholders, elected and appointed officials, and the public. The Steering Committee, which includes stormwater staff from each partner jurisdiction and the Washington State Department of Ecology, provides guidance and oversight throughout the project.

Key stakeholders include the Alliance for a Healthy South Sound, the South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group, the WRIA 13 Salmon Habitat Recovery Lead Entity, the Squaxin Island Tribe, the Nisqually Indian Tribe, and the Wild Fish Conservancy.

TRPC has outlined the scope of work for a selected contractor and will coordinate with the steering committee and stakeholders to develop effective planning and strategies for implementing priority roadway stormwater retrofit projects.

The tasks include:

• Assessment methodology and data gathering. The selected consultant will work closely with the TRPC and the project's steering committee to identify the stormwater retrofit planning initiative's priorities, concerns, goals, and data needs.

This collaborative approach will be crucial to the project's success as the consultant develops sustainable, data-driven tools that empower local governments in Thurston County to plan and implement effective roadway stormwater retrofit projects.

• Identify priority basins/catchments and road network segments. The project partners seek to develop a common planning framework and prioritization tools to identify at-risk receiving waters in the region's priority basins and stormwater catchment areas.

The project aims to identify and prioritize locally managed roadway segments (excluding state highways) that present the greatest opportunities to protect high-quality receiving waters and reduce pollution-generating threats to at-risk receiving waters, priority fish populations, salmon recovery priorities, and aquatic life.

• Road retrofit concepts. The project partners seek to develop a list of priority retrofit project concepts to achieve goals for the roadway segments identified in the previous task.

The list of projects should include recommended best management practices or facility types, conceptual cost estimates, and other considerations that will position the projects for future development and inclusion in the partner jurisdictions' capital planning processes.

• Prioritization tool adaptation and documentation. The project partners want the planning framework and prioritization tools developed through this initiative to remain relevant, adaptive, and functional in future years as new or updated data becomes available.
• Retrofit best practices and implementation strategy guidance. The consultant will guide TRPC in developing a best practices report documenting recommendations for integrating roadway stormwater retrofit projects.

Additionally, TRPC will develop a stormwater retrofit implementation strategy outlining project leads, schedules, funding sources, and effectiveness evaluation processes.

The deadline for submission of proposals is on Aug. 16, 2024, at 5 p.m.

Interested parties must submit their proposals electronically to Tyson Justis, TRPC's Human Resources and Finance manager, at justisT@trpc.org.

If you have any questions or would like to obtain additional information about the project, contact Paul Brewster, TRPC senior planner, by email or at (360)741-2526.