Intersection of Middle Rd SE, Railway St SE will close April 8-10 for construction

With the City of Yelm prioritizing enhancing and improving local infrastructure and traffic times, one of the area’s worst rated roads will soon be enhanced as the intersection of Middle Road Southeast and Railway Street Southeast will be closed for construction through Friday, April 10.

Specifically, the road construction will span from Wednesday, April 8, through Friday, April 10, with a full road closure at the intersection. Detour routes will also be clearly marked and posted for local motorists driving in the area. Drivers should expect some delays and traffic in surrounding areas during construction.

“We encourage drivers to plan alternate routes and allow extra travel time during this period,” the City of Yelm wrote on Facebook on Monday, April 6.

Cody Colt, Yelm public services director, told the Nisqually Valley News on Monday, April 6, that Middle Road and Railway Street are some of Yelm’s worst rated roads. The project cost the city “just over” $50,000, he said.

“It’s got several tree routes growing through it. The edges kind of drop off, and there’s potholes. It’s highly trafficked during school, and we were hoping the weather would cooperate with us so we could do it over spring break,” Colt said. “It will be about a three day project. We will rip it all apart and build it from the ground up.”

Colt identified that the construction will be occurring near Fort Stevens Elementary School. He noted the city is designing a sidewalk to construct in the future to attach with the newly reconstructed road in order to allow more students to walk to the local elementary school.

“That will connect those new developments coming down there to Fort Stevens so kids can walk to school rather than taking the bus,” Colt said.

He’s hopeful to see progress on the sidewalks later in 2026.

“The road that’s totally in place will be ‘milled and filled.’ You break up all of the concrete that’s already there and then you repave it,” Colt said. “We’re rebuilding it from the ground up.”

Colt reiterated that this reconstruction project is one of several road improvement plans for this year. He identified Third Street as the next road that will receive upgrades.

“This is another pretty poorly rated road in the city next to the Habitat for Humanity. It’s the street that runs next to the police department,” Colt said. “That one has some flooding issues and some other things. It’s a longer project so we’ll do that over the summer. We don’t want to disrupt bus routes during school. We’ll do that project during summer. That road will be closed for about a similar amount of time, around a week.”

Additionally, Colt said the Rhoton Road reconstruction project will go to bid at the end of 2026. He believes there’s a good chance the project will be under construction in the spring of 2027. Additionally, several local roundabout projects are slated to go to bid at the end of this year. Colt also expects those projects to be under construction in 2027.