Widening the only two-lane stretch of U.S. Highway 101 between Sequim and Port Angeles was removed from the state transportation budget at the last minute.
The project between Shore Road and Kitchen-Dick Road — a 2.25-mile stretch noted for its fatal car collisions over the years — was yanked from an ambitious $8.5 billion transportation plan when the measure came up for a revote on the final day of the legislative session last Sunday.
That’s the same bill that calls for a phased-in 9.5-cents-per-gallon gasoline tax increase between this summer and 2008.
“I would imagine we have no shot at [the widening] now for two years minimum,” said state Rep. Jim Buck, R-Joyce, on Saturday.
The project to widen the dangerous stretch of highway from two lanes to four was included in the 2005-2007 state transportation budget, according to initial reports from Olympia.
It was the centerpiece of transportation improvements for the North Olympic Peninsula.
Other projects still in the transportation budget include a U.S. 101 climbing lane near Mount Walker in Jefferson County, improvements to the Port Townsend state ferry terminal, some Highway 112 safety fixes and a roadside restroom and parking area east of Sequim.
