PORT ANGELES — Go west, Olympic Discovery Trail.
Clallam County this month received a $980,000 federal grant to continue the westward expansion of the multi-use trail west of Lake Crescent.
A new 5-mile segment on a restored Forest Service road will make it possible for cyclists and others to bypass U.S. Highway 101 from Fairholm Hill to Sappho.
The grant comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration under the Public Lands Highway discretionary program.
Clallam County will use the money to pave the center 12 feet of the remote Forest Service Road 070 — leaving 4 feet of gravel on each shoulder for equestrians — and to build 1.4 miles of new trail on an undeveloped railroad grade.
The paving will take place next year.
The new segment will connect a Merrill & Ring bridge over the Sol Duc River and Forest Service Road 2918 to West End civilization via Cooper Ranch and Mary Clark roads.
“This is going to get us within 10 miles of Forks,” said Rich James, Clallam County transportation program manager.
“The trail really is coming out west.”
James said the county has worked “hand-in-hand” with the Forest Service for several years on the project.
The Forest Service did the environmental analysis and helped the county obtain the permits needed for the actual construction, James said.
The grant includes funding for larger stream culverts along the shared trail.
It also includes funding to improve Forest Service Road 2918, which brings the ODT south from U.S. Highway 101 to the Sol Duc River.
The county has taken ownership of Forest Service Road 2918 and is leasing the Merrill & Ring bridge to get trail users across the river.
“This project is a perfect example of a local county government working together with a cooperative federal agency and private timberland owners to fund projects that enhance federal and private forest lands for forest management and enhanced recreational uses,” James said in an email after the grant was announced Aug. 2.
The Olympic Discovery Trail eventually will span the entire North Olympic Peninsula from Port Townsend to LaPush.
Jefferson County commissioners opened four bids Aug. 20 to complete the final 1.3-mile segment of the 8-mile Larry Scott Memorial Trail from Port Townsend’s waterfront to Four Corners Road in the Four Corners area.
This will complete the trail from Port Townsend to the Discovery Bay Golf Course. The Scott trail is envisioned as part of the Olympic Discovery Trail.
Meanwhile, Clallam County has a vested interest in an Olympic National Park environmental assessment of the Spruce Railroad Trail on Lake Crescent, which will become part of the Olympic Discovery Trail.
The draft environmental assessment left out a 1.5-mile segment at the top of Fairholm Hill that would create a gap in the 130-mile trail.
Park officials have said the decision document — a finding of no significant environmental impacts — would be released by the end of September.
Commissioner Mike Doherty announced the grant at a Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce meeting Aug. 13.
Chamber Executive Director Russ Veenema had presented the county with a $2,085 check to expand the Olympic Discovery Trail from proceeds raised by a $5 surcharge from Ride the Hurricane registrations.
Doherty and James each thanked U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Bothell, and U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, for their work to secure the $980,000 transportation enhancement grant.
“Norm wrote a very strong support letter that got the attention of the agencies,” Doherty told chamber members.
“So our community came out ahead. We were the fourth-largest grant of about 20 grants awarded in Washington state. So that will pay for most of the paving.”
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said more than $363 million was awarded for transportation improvement projects across the country.
“Investments in transportation projects like these create jobs right away in communities across the country and lay a foundation for future economic growth,” LaHood said in an Aug. 2 news release.
The largest of the 20 grants in Washington was $2 million for power assemblies and boiler burners on seven state ferries.
A second North Olympic Peninsula project, an engineering assessment for repairs to Upper Hoh Road in west Jefferson County, received a $200,000 grant from the same Public Lands Highway discretionary program.
A complete list of the grants is available at http://tinyurl.com/8fen6of.
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
