PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County commissioners have accepted a bid from a Burlington based construction company to complete a section of the Olympic Discovery Trail.
Interwest Construction Inc.’s bid of $987,654.32 for the trail segment at South Discovery Bay was unanimously accepted by the three county commissioners as part of their consent agenda at Monday morning’s meeting.
The section of the trail that will be completed under the new contract with Interwest will run between Old Gardiner Road off U.S. Highway 101 and Salmon Creek. While the trail work will be divided into two phases, the company will begin construction on both phase one and two of the trail segment simultaneously.
The three-quarter-mile trail section will be 10 feet wide and paved, according to the plan submitted by the county public works department.
Phase one of the project will be the most work intensive because the ground will need to be flattened before it can be paved. Phase two, which is built along an old railroad track, is already flattened and just needs to be paved.
Both phases will need some excavation to smooth down the trail and remove some vegetation before paving can start.
Guardrails also will be installed along the areas where the trail meets Highway 101.
Work is expected to start this summer but there is no date scheduled currently.
The segment project is expected to cost $1,208,711, and will be partially funded by the Recreation and Conservation Office, which provided a matching fund up to $195,000.
The trail segment along south Discovery Bay is the final part of a restoration project done in cooperation with the county and the Olympic Salmon Coalition.
The trail will eventually connect to the Larry Scott trail, which runs into downtown Port Townsend.
When completed, the Olympic Discovery Trail is expected to traverse almost 130 miles of lowlands — bordered on the south by the Olympic Mountains and on the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca — with its start in Port Townsend and end at the Pacific Ocean.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
