Columbia Street closure tenatively scheduled to begin October 20

The closure of Columbia Street, between 11th Avenue and Union Avenue, is scheduled to begin on Oct. 20, pending final approval by the city of Olympia. The closure, if approved, would remain in effect until the 1063 Block Replacement Project is completed in 2017.

The closure is needed for public safety reasons. There is heavy truck traffic and constant construction activity in the area. The closed section of roadway will be used for the temporary storage of equipment and supplies, and provide safe access to the west side of the construction site.

The Olympia Fire Department will still have access to the fire hydrant on the west side of Columbia Street. And the sidewalk on the west side of the street, near the GA Building, will remain open.

There will also be intermittent closures of one lane of 11th Avenue, between Capitol Way and Columbia Street, throughout the construction phase of the project. The side of the street nearest to the construction site will be closed periodically for the unloading of concrete and other materials. Traffic flaggers will be on site during the brief closures.

Concrete crushing

Demolition of the 1063 building and the adjacent parking garage is nearly complete. Once it is done, concrete crushing will begin.The project plan calls for the reuse of concrete debris left after the demolition, instead of taking it to a landfill. The crushed concrete will be used as part of the underground pillar system that will support the foundation of the new building.

The concrete crushing will be noisy. It shouldn’t be louder than the demolition work, but it will be more constant. Sellen Construction, the general contractor for the project, has created a document that compares the anticipated noise level from the crushing to other common activities.

The crushing work is scheduled to begin around Oct. 19 and continue throughout the month.

Shoring work is nearly complete. Shoring is where steel columns are drilled vertically into the ground and then timber beams are anchored to the steel columns which keep dirt from collapsing back into the area where the foundation will be built. A shoring system will support the surrounding loads until the underground levels of the building are constructed.

Check out the time-lapse video of the demolition of the old 1063 building and parking garage on the 1063 project website.

The 1063 Block Replacement Project entails the demolition of the two state-owned structures on the block bordered by Capitol Way, 11th Avenue, Union Avenue and Columbia Street, followed by the construction of a five-story, 215,000 square-foot office building. The new building is scheduled to be completed by fall 2017.

Send written comments and questions about the project to: EASmail@des.wa.gov.

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