PORT ANGELES — Clallam County has kick-started an Olympic Discovery Trail project that may include the restoration of the 3.5-mile Spruce Railroad Trail and two historic tunnels on the north shore of Lake Crescent.
The three commissioners Tuesday voted unanimously to initiate the $2.7 million county road project for 12 miles of the Olympic Discovery Trail between the Lyre River headwaters and the top of Fairholm Hill.
“This is just the paperwork piece that kicks the actual project off,” Commissioner Jim McEntire explained.
The broader project hinges on an environmental assessment that Olympic National Park is conducting for the Spruce Railroad Trail, which would become part of the Olympic Discovery Trail on the banks of the iconic lake.
In 2009, Clallam County received a $999,000 grant from the state Recreation and Conservation Office to rehabilitate the Spruce Railroad Trail for additional user groups and to restore the two tunnels on the 94-year-old railroad grade.
The county in 2010 built a 6.4-mile paved segment from the western terminus of the Spruce Railroad Trail to the west end of Lake Crescent.
County Engineer Ross Tyler said the cost estimates, including the $750,000 listed for this year, will almost certainly change, depending on what the park decides to do with the Spruce Railroad Trail.
“There’s a whole bunch of unanswered questions,” Tyler said.
The park released for public comment an environmental assessment for the Spruce Railroad Trail in May, with a preferred alternative calling for a 10.5-foot-wide crushed-rock surface.
The county envisions a paved surface on the entire length of the Olympic Discovery Trail for wheelchair and road bike accessibility.
Olympic National Park officials are reviewing public comments received on the environmental assessment for the Spruce Railroad Trail.
Park spokeswoman Barb Maynes said the final decision document will be released by the end of September.
“The process hasn’t been completed yet,” Maynes said.
“Nothing has changed since the environmental assessment.”
She added: “There has been quite a bit of internal discussion.”
The Olympic Discovery Trail has been designed and built to Americans With Disabilities Act standards and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials guidelines.
Clallam County proposed an 8-foot-wide asphalt surface with 3 feet of natural tread on the Spruce Railroad Trail to enable wheelchair users, roller bladers and road and hand-crank bicyclists to bypass U.S. Highway 101 on the Spruce Railroad grade.
County officials Tuesday said the park is considering another option — alternative 5 in the published environmental assessment — that calls for an 8-foot-wide paved trail with 3 feet of gravel.
“If our information is factual, the county applauds the ONP staff for selecting an alternative cross section that provides safe widths, appropriate surfacing, and safe separation distances for all trail users,” Commissioner Mike Doherty wrote in a Monday letter to National Park Service Regional Director Christine Lehnertz.
“Despite this positive development, we still have grave concerns about the proposed trail alignment and grades in segment D and the failure to include the westernmost 1.5 miles of the route to the western Park boundary in violation of the General Management Plan and the Lake Crescent Management Plan,” the letter continued.
County Transportation Program Manager Rich James said the grades in alternative 5 are too steep for ADA accessibility, and the omission of the 1.5-mile section at the top of Fairholm Hill would leave a gap in the Olympic Discovery Trail.
Maynes said Tuesday the park has not taken action on a change in the environmental assessment.
By initiating the broader road project, the county will be able to build an ADA-compliant parking area for trail access at the top of Fairholm Hill, Tyler said.
“It also lets us do some improvements on our own county property that’s up by the Lyre River trailhead,” James added.
In other trail news, commissioners Tuesday called for bids to pave the Olympic Discovery Trail between Kacee Way and the intersection of 10th Street in Port Angeles. Bids are due Aug. 28.
A gravel trail exists from the 10th Street trailhead to the western edge of the city of Port Angeles.
The 2.5-mile segment will be paved later this year, James said.
Commissioners Doherty and Mike Chapman were out of the area Tuesday but participated in the business meeting by speakerphone.
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
