Evergreen moves forward with Parkway project; design selected

Thomas L. “Les” Purce, president of The Evergreen State College, has announced his approval of a design for the Evergreen Parkway project.

The selected design will reduce the Parkway to one lane in each direction, add a roundabout at the McCann Plaza intersection, make improvements at the other intersections and enhance pedestrian and bicycle access to the roadway. The project now goes to the final design phase.

“This design does the best job of meeting the goals of the project,” Purce said.

The design option selected addresses the project goals; improving safety for automobiles, pedestrians and bicyclists, enhancing intersection safety, lowering future maintenance costs and adequately serving present and projected future traffic volumes.

Purce praised the community feedback gathered at the December 11 neighborhood open house and directed that the final design consider suggestions and comments aired at the open house. “The open house was a wonderful opportunity to meet many of our neighbors - and we received excellent feedback that will be looked at very closely as we move into the final design phase,” Purce said.

Requests for proposals from contractors will go out in February, and the project is expected to be completed during June of 2005.