PORT ANGELES — Clallam County has revised its six-year transportation plan in an effort to capture unspent state and federal funds for road, bridge and trail projects.
The three commissioners approved an amended 2017-22 Transportation Improvement Program, or TIP, after a public hearing Tuesday.
County Engineer Ross Tyler said it is “not uncommon” for the board to revise the transportation plan as the year goes along.
“This may not be the only [revision] we do in 2017 as we make adjustments, as funding sources bring money in, or something like that,” Tyler said in a staff report.
Notably, the approved revisions to the six-year TIP reflect the county’s desire to request “advanced construction” funds for the $5.45 million replacement of the McDonald Creek bridge on Old Olympic Highway, Transportation Program Manager Rich James said.
Advanced construction would provide an advance on federal Surface Transportation Program, or STP, funding.
“This particular project only had $808,000 of STP funding in it,” James told commissioners.
“You recently added another $200,000 to that when we allocated funds a couple weeks ago. But this is seeking $3.45 million of STP funding that we could add to it if we got approval of the state to do so.”
Clallam County is expected to award a bid for the McDonald Creek bridge replacement this spring.
The contractor will remove the 60-year-old, 24-foot-wide bridge and replace it with a 40-foot-wide span.
Old Olympic Highway will be closed at the bridge for about eight months during construction, which is expected to begin in late spring or early summer.
Advance construction funds could come from several sources, including other states or other counties in Washington that have not followed through on STP-funded projects, James said.
“A certain amount of this STP funding has to be spent every year,” James said.
“That creates an opportunity for a county that has a project that is very near going into construction, like this project will be for us, to utilize those funds.”
Advance construction funds also could be borrowed against Clallam County’s future road fund allocations.
“The state encouraged us to request these additional funds because some other agencies aren’t spending as much funding as they should this year,” James said.
“And it would add a significant amount of federal funding to that project and reduce a significant local match for this project.”
The revised transportation plan reflects the fact that Olympic National Park has requested a $400,000 state match to reconstruct the Spruce Railroad Trail and two historic railroad tunnels at Lake Crescent.
It also reflects a request to the state Department of Transportation to increase federal funding for scour repairs on three piers for the Ward bridge across the Dungeness River.
“We don’t know if they’ll approve it, but this is the means by which we can ask for it,” James said.
Gordon Taylor of the Peninsula Trails Coalition testified in support of funding property acquisitions for future segments of the Olympic Discovery Trail between Forks and La Push.
The amended transportation plan moves acquisition funding for West End segments of the ODT from this year to 2018.
Tyler said the Road Department is developing a right-of-way plat for sections of the Olympic Discovery Trail south of state Highway 110.
Federal rules prevent the county from negotiating for right-of-way purchases until the proposed route is established, Tyler said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
