PORT ANGELES — Clallam County has secured $726,930 in state funds to widen and resurface a narrow three-quarter-mile section of Lower Elwha Road.
The three commissioners Tuesday unanimously approved an agreement with the Rural Arterial Program that enables the County Road Administration Board to authorize payments to spruce up the tribal access road from its southern terminus at Edgewood Drive to the three-way stop at Elwha Valley Road, formerly Kacee Way.
The county had asked for $1.2 million for the safety project and “just made the funding cutoff” for this biennium, County Engineer Ross Tyler said.
“We didn’t think we were going to make it,” he added. “In the next biennium, the remaining $430,000 will be right at the top of the [funding] list.”
Next year, the county will begin spending the Rural Arterial Trust Account funds on right of way and utility relocation. The state requires a 10 percent local match.
The widening and resurfacing work likely will occur in 2015.
“We’re probably not going to have any time to fit much in this year,” Tyler said.
The project also may involve the redesign and construction of a new intersection for Lower Elwha Road where it meets Elwha Valley Road, and the Olympic Discovery Trail at the western boundary of the city of Port Angeles.
Clallam County wants to set up a free left turn for motorists traveling to the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe via Elwha Valley Road, the 6-month-old connector to Stratton Road on the tribal reservation.
“We’ve kicked that around for quite a few years now,” Tyler said. “We do want to make the Lower Elwha to Elwha Valley road a nice, sweeping, continuous movement.
“We’ll be taking a look at that.”
Efforts to build a new intersection hinge on negotiations with the Port of Port Angeles and federal aviation authorities.
The port-owned property near the intersection is in the direct approach to William R. Fairchild International Airport.
Meanwhile, Tyler said efforts to find an outside agency to help pay for $200,000 worth of improvements to the deteriorating north end of Lower Elwha Road have stalled.
Last May, Tyler warned commissioners that the road was on the verge of crumbling because of the high volume of heavy trucks being used on federal projects associated with Elwha River restoration.
Tyler said in a Tuesday interview that the new tribal access road has alleviated pressure on Lower Elwha Road.
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
