The City of Yelm will have several road and traffic projects taking place throughout the next several years, specifically the Yelm Loop. the Five Corners roundabout and Rhoton Road.
Patrick Hughes, a City of Yelm project manager, reported to the City Council that Rhoton Road will be reconstructed after the Yelm Loop and Five Corners roundabout projects begin. He said the Rhoton Road reconstruction project will completely revamp the road to accommodate an anticipated increase of traffic on it once the long-awaited Yelm Loop project is completed. The city is currently in the process of hiring a consultant before creating a design for the project. Hughes said the project will be about a mile in length and include widening the road to 10-foot lanes, with curb and gutter.
Hughes said the project would add a sidewalk along the west side of Rhoton Road along with an 8-foot wide shared-use path on its east side. He noted the shared-use path would connect to a new trail “that’s coming with the Yelm Loop project,” which will connect to the existing trailhead at Rhoton Road and Railway.
“Where we are at the project right now, we drafted an advertisement for consultants. It’s being reviewed right now by WSDOT and local programs. As soon as we get approval for that advertisement, we’ll get it in the paper and get a consultant on board,” Hughes said. “The next step after that is to begin the preliminary design, and then to move into the right of way acquisition phase. There’s a little bit of right of way we’re going to need for this project. There’s a few areas along the southern part of the project where we’re going to need another 5 to 10 feet of right of way, nothing significant.”
Hughes added that the right of way acquisition phase takes “some time.” He’s expecting the preliminary design and right-of-way phase will begin wrapping up “around this time next year.”
“We’re probably looking at a spring of ’26 construction start. I have financing already set for the preliminary engineering phase. We received an $850,000 grant for federal transportation funds,” Hughes said. “These transportation funds, if there’s anything good about transportation funds, is there’s no match. This will be 100% funded through federal grants.”
He said he’s hoping the federal funds will pay for the design and right-of-way phase. Hughes added the city is still seeking funding for the actual construction portion of the Rhoton Road reconstruction.
Hughes said, currently, half of Rhoton Road falls within Yelm’s jurisdiction, with the other half belonging to Thurston County. He added the city is looking at annexation of the road.
“There is some discussion about some larger annexation for the city, and, if so, this would be a part of that. We would have to acquire that,” Hughes said.
