At the beginning of the year, the UW Police Department (UWPD) helped students passing the construction site of the new molecular engineering building by navigating traffic. Now, the service has been contracted to retired Seattle Police Department (SPD) due to the extension of the need for traffic control.

“We essentially rely on officers who want to work overtime to fill that kind of job, and I don’t think that’s how the UWPD wants to be used because that need is going to exist for another two years potentially,” said Steve Tatge, senior project manager for the Capital Projects Office. “We had a short-term need and … now that we have a better sense of what we need, we have the contractor set up to provide traffic controlling.”

Because of the way construction is configured, half of Grant Lane is taken away, making it a hazardous condition for pedestrians walking in between classes, said Ralph Robinson, special events lieutenant for the UWPD.

The UWPD initially provided officers to coordinate traffic safety at the intersection of Grant Lane and Stevens Way but did not have the resources to continue the service.

“Because of the changes that were taking place in the traffic pattern, we thought it would be helpful to have a uniformed police officer there, so people could really look at them as a resource,” said Ron Fouty, safety director for the Capital Projects Office. “That decision was made, and then, after that particular need was addressed, we … assessed the situation.”

Hoffman Construction Company, the organization working on the site, has a contract with the Retired Seattle Police Officers’ Association, and two retired SPD officers are splitting the position. Tatge said that the cost of the contractor’s flagging service is included in the $77.7 million cost of the overall project.

“The original request was to provide traffic control for the first week of school, and then it extended for another week and another week and another week because it was viewed as something that was going to be long term, and we were just not able to sustain that,” Robinson said.

Shifts for the position were originally filled with off-duty UWPD officers on overtime, and the cost for the service was added to the total expense to the university in order for the department to be reimbursed.

“We were able to cover it in some cases but not all … based on the fact that people didn’t always sign up for one reason or another,” Robinson said. “When you consider all of the overtime, all the events that go on on campus, we just were not able to do it.”

Retired SPD officer Bob Hoff is one of the flaggers hired by the project contractor to control traffic at the intersection.

“What it was with UW is that they had to do it on an overtime basis, and it was less expensive to hire me, and sometimes they couldn’t staff the position,” Hoff said.

Hoff shares two-week intervals with another retired SPD officer to control traffic and help students safely navigate the intersection, working Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

“It’s to help them get to class as opposed to getting run over,” Hoff said. “I’ve done this for the last 10 years, and I’m very friendly.”

Reach reporter Lexie Krell at news@dailyuw.com.