PORT ANGELES — With the bulk of the work in the rearview mirror, crews are putting the finishing touches on the U.S. Highway 101 widening project between Port Angeles and Sequim.
The highway has been widened from two lanes to four lanes as part of a multi-year, state Department of Transportation project on a 3.5-mile segment between Kitchen-Dick and Shore roads.
“We are in the home stretch,” Transportation spokesman Doug Adamson said.
“Crews working for DOT are in the process of wrapping up work. Some of the remaining items are drainage, earth work, compost and bark. We also have some final lane striping.”
The lion’s share of the work that impacts drivers is finished, Adamson said.
No date has been set for the weather-dependent final lane striping.
Crews will return in the fall to complete the final landscaping, Adamson said.
In other highway news, crews recently finished re-paving the right lanes of U.S. Highway 101 between Old Olympic Highway and Shore Road.
“We do the right lanes because they have the most wear,” Adamson said.
A similar maintenance project will take place later this summer on the right lanes of U.S. Highway 101 from Golf Course Road in Port Angeles to Kolonels Way near the Wal-Mart Supercenter.
On the West End, crews will re-pave the highway from Milepost 189 south of Forks to Milepost 192 inside the city.
No date has been set for the highway preservation projects east of Port Angeles and in Forks.
When they commence, drivers may encounter single-lane closures, shoulder closures, one-way alternating traffic with flaggers and lane shifts, Transportation officials said.
Meanwhile, crews continue to repair storm damage that washed out one lane of U.S. Highway 101 along the Hood Canal just south of the Jefferson-Mason county line.
Crews have begun shoring up the steep hillside below the highway by essentially building a retaining wall, Adamson said.
Alternating traffic is in effect.
“Backups have not been substantial,” Adamson said.
Transportation officials expect to reopen the both lanes of highway along Hood Canal by the end of this summer.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
