Tuesday night [June 25], the Yelm City Council approved a $299,778 contract for “pavement preservation projects” for Bald Hill, Cullens and Burnett roads.

The projects are:
1. Bald Hill Road from SR 507 (Yelm Ave. E) to the Thurston County line,
2. Cullens Road from SR 510 (Yelm Ave. W) to Coates Road (Inner Loop),
3. Burnett Road from SR 510 (Yelm Ave. W) to the SR 510 Alternate Loop (Yelm Bypass).

Bids for the project opened May 31 with the engineers estimate at $383,836. Lakeside Industries was the lowest of five bids.

As this writer has told the Yelm City Council previously, asphalting or chip sealing to “preserve” Bald Hill Road from SR 507 (Five Corners) to the Thurston County line, from where Thurston County has county standard lane widths and shoulders all the way out to Smith Prairie Road, is nothing more than a “band-aid” approach and NOT SAFE!
With tens of school buses coming each way daily from an excellent Thurston County Bald Hill Road section and entering the Yelm city limits on a below-par road with no shoulders, tight lane size and usual potholes, is dangerous, at best. And, this section of road is the lowest priority annually on the city’s Six-Year Transportation Plan (STIP).