Keep the Log Cabin Extension Road Out of the Woods and Off the Plans
The Log Cabin Road Extension road has been part of Thurston County’s transportation planning since the 1990s. At that time, the 150 acres of mature forest known locally as the LBA Woods was to be the site of ~1000 homes. This housing development included a central thoroughfare that would allow for traffic to flow to and from from Lacey’s 37th Ave./Olympia’s Hermann Rd. at Wiggins Rd. through the development and onto Log Cabin Rd in Olympia.
After a successful community-led campaign to save the LBA Woods, the City of Olympia purchased most of the forested parcels as a public park in 2016-2017. Today, the wooded acreage of the new LBA Park & Woods is one of the most popular city parks, with trails for walkers, bicyclists, and off-leash dog walkers.
Without the 1,000 homes to serve, the Log Cabin Road Extension makes no sense. This road would destroy the natural integrity and recreational values of this beloved. The proposed road would now take out a five-acres swath of native trees, understory plants, wildlife habitat, walking and biking trails. The proposed road would bisect this wooded parkland already bisected by the access road to a newly constructed water tower.
In 2021, when the City of Olympia updated its Comprehensive Plan, community members advocated for removing the road from this plan. The Olympia City Council chose instead to commission a study in 2031 to evaluate the need for the road at that time. Which means they won’t forge ahead recklessly with plans based on old data, but that they will forge ahead more cautiously.
Meanwhile at the county level…the Log Cabin Extension Road is still listed as a “planned” project in the Thurston County Regional Transportation Plan, where it appears as Project A4, the “Log Cabin Road Connection.” The estimated cost to taxpayers of this unnecessary road is currently estimated to be $10,250,000.
The Log Cabin Road Extension may be years off from being constructed, but the planning is happening now. Check the blog here or subscribe to our email list for news and action alerts on this issue.
How Would the Log Cabin Road Extension Affect Your Experience of the Park?
Parkgoers: A road of any size through the middle of the LBA Woods would degrade your experience of the park. Imagine your once-tranquil walk through the woods overrun by traffic noise, street crossings, exhaust fumes, and roadkill. Recent medical studies show that larger forest tracts provide special health benefits to users, including immune system boost, lower blood pressure, reduced stress, accelerated recovery from surgery or illness, increased energy level and work enthusiasm, improved sleep.
The construction of the proposed Log Cabin Road Connection would bisect the LBA Woods by clearcutting nearly 5 acres of the woods (the city-owned strip of right-of-way for this road). This construction and presence of this road will destroy the ecological integrity of the forest, degrade habitat for wildlife, and reduce the benefits to our community of recreating in a safe and natural environment.
Community Members: The goals of the Thuston Climate Mitigation Plan and Thurston Climate Adaptation Plan clearly state that in order to meet the ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, our community must move aggressively in the direction of preserving urban forests, reducing our reliance of green-house-gas-emitting vehicles, shifting to zero-emissions modes of transportation such as biking and walking.
Homeowners: Proximity to the LBA Woods is an asset and touted by real-estate agents selling homes in the southeast Olympia neighborhoods. A road through the park would decrease home property values. Imagine the increase in traffic noise and the decrease in safety, especially for kids walking or biking to nearby schools. Imagine the increase in traffic volume on Log Cabin Road and North Street.
Taxpayers: The cost of the road will be yours to pay. The 2025 estimate for the Log Cabin Road Connection is $10,250,00. Prior to the establishment of the park, the housing developers were expected to bear much of the cost of road construction. Without the housing, the burden of paying for an unnecessary road falls on the taxpayers.
Commuters: If built, Log Cabin Road would funnel traffic onto North Street. The North Street corridor, between Cain Road and Henderson Boulevard is already designated as a Mobility Strategy Area, meaning there is no feasible plan to address congestion in this area. North Street cannot be widened, due to a 1970s court decision in North Street Association vs. Olympia. The option of expanding Morse-Merryman Road should be examined for relieving current and future traffic congestion between Lacey and Olympia.
Walkers: LBA Woods offers 4+ miles of wide trails and footpaths on a gentle grade suitable for people needing or preferring such trails. The trails in similarly wooded city parks such as Watershed Park and Squaxin park feature steeper terrain. A road through the park will sever existing trails at 10 points.
Runners: LBA Woods boasts a 4-mile network of uncrowded wooded trails on gentle terrain. The Washington Trails Association (WTA) installed raised “turnpikes” over impassable muddy areas to make year-round running a possibility. The Olympia High School cross-country running team has trained in this park for years. The annual Little Backyard Adventure (LBA) draws hundreds of trail runners from across county, state, and region to the LBA Woods for 3- 6- and 12-hour endurance runs. A road through the middle of the woods would ruin the continuity of the trails, require multiple street crossings, and reduce the air quality within the woods.
Birdwatchers: The LBA Woods is a local refugia for migrating and nesting birds. The woods currently provide important habitat to at least 80 bird species, including North America’s largest woodpecker–the Pileated Woodpecker. The National Audubon Society’s Birds and Climate Change report lists 314 birds likely to be seriously impacted by changing climate in the United States. Of those 314 birds, 21 occur in LBA Woods. LBA Woods is a refuge for these species and will become increasingly important to them in the future. View the 21 birds and more in our Flora and Fauna guide here.
Friends of the Earth (Everyone!): The 133-acre LBA Woods serves vital ecosystem functions such as sequestering carbon (in trees and soil), mitigating flooding, recharging aquifers, storing water in seasonal wetlands, and purifying and cooling our air. Our existing forests are our best defense against rising C02 emissions. The LBA Woods is classified as a mature upland forest, with the oldest trees just shy of 100 years. Scientific research shows that as forests get older, the trees and the soil absorb more carbon every year. Cutting five acres of trees and paving over the forest soils eliminates the potential for these acres to contribute to carbon sequestration. To meet any of Thurston County’s climate goals, we must leave mature, functioning forests in place. Here’s the science to support this.
Building roads to reduce congestion rarely works. It just makes driving easier so more people drive and more cars flood the available roadways. Transportation planners need to start planning for a world with no road through the LBA Woods. As Thurston Regional Planning Council Director, Marc Daily, said during a September 15, 2020 meeting of the Thurston County Transportation Policy Board, “We cannot build our way out of congestion....Adding capacity temporarily helps things but in the long term, it induces demand therefore it gets more people out on the roadway."
Reason to Keep the Road
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
