Shelton staff present four designs for Olympic Highway North; council leans toward compromise option ahead of public outreach

Shelton public works officials laid out four design alternatives for reconstructing Olympic Highway North during the council’s Jan. 27 study session, saying the work must include bike facilities to satisfy grant conditions. Aaron Nicks, Shelton’s assistant public works director, told council that Olympic Highway North "is really the key here," calling the corridor the city’s economic driver and urging careful trade-off analysis between safety, parking and construction cost.

The staff presentation described four conceptual approaches: a status-quo layout with added bike lanes; a balanced design that retains parking on the west side and installs buffered lanes; an intermediate “European-style” design staff identified as costlier and potentially cluttered; and a high-cost option that would remove on-street parking and provide maximum separation for bicycles. Nicks noted a roughly $3.5 million federal/state grant that covers reconstruction, and cautioned that an added signal at one intersection could raise construction costs by about $500,000.

Why it matters: Olympic Highway North runs past multiple schools and the city’s primary commercial strip, so design choices affect students, small businesses and traffic patterns. Staff said the grant requires bike facilities, which constrains some design choices, and argued the city must balance safety goals with business access and long-term maintenance costs.

Council discussion centered on three trade-offs: safety for cyclists and pedestrians, preserving on-street parking used by businesses, and the long-term operations and maintenance burden of more elaborate striping or signals. One councilor said the presence of four nearby schools made buffer lanes more desirable for student safety; another raised concerns that removing parking would harm downtown merchants.

Staff recommendation and next steps: Staff asked the council for guidance on narrowing options before public outreach. After discussion, several councilors expressed support for Option 2 as a compromise that retains west-side parking while adding buffered bike lanes and crossing enhancements. Aaron Nicks said staff will schedule a neighborhood meeting, prepare detailed strip maps, present two recommended options at that forum, and collect public feedback online and in person. He also suggested using simple ranked-choice polling at the meeting to capture preferences.

The council did not take a final binding vote on a design. Staff said they will return with refined illustrations and costs and report public comments back to the council before moving to final design and construction scheduling.