PORT ANGELES — Clallam County is seeking a grant to help pay for a 1.6-mile segment of the Spruce Railroad Trail at Lake Crescent.
Commissioners Monday directed staff to apply for a $100,000 grant from the federal Transportation Alternatives Program to partially fund reconstruction of the trail between a pair of century-old railroad tunnels.
Clallam County and Olympic National Park are working together on the multi-year project to pave and widen the 4-mile Spruce Railroad Trail to provide bicyclists and other non-motorized travelers with a scenic alternative to the narrow shoulders and heavy traffic along U.S. Highway 101 on the south side of the lake.
Olympic Discovery Trail
Once completed in 2018 or 2019, the wheelchair-accessible Spruce Railroad Trail will become part of the ever-expanding Olympic Discovery Trail.
“This [grant] is just the segment between the two tunnels,” County Engineer Ross Tyler told commissioners Monday.
The estimated cost of the segment between the McFee and Daley-Rankin tunnels is $1.1 million. Construction is planned for the summer and fall of 2018.
The tunnels themselves will be restored as part of sister projects.
Clallam County is constantly seeking state and federal grants to help pay for the four segments of the Spruce Railroad Trail.
“This is just an application for $100,000 back,” Tyler said of the latest grant application.
Last year, crews widened a 0.6-mile segment on the east end of the trail from the Lyre River trailhead to the historic railroad grade on the north shore of the lake.
The packed gravel surface will be paved after more segments are built.
This year, crews plan to extend the reconstructed trail another half-mile to the McFee tunnel.
More than half of the cost of the trail reconstruction and tunnel restoration is covered by a $460,000 grant from the state Recreation and Conservation Office.
That segment earned the top score in the trails category of a 2015 Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program grant competition.
The Olympic Discovery Trail will eventually cover 128 miles between Port Townsend and La Push.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
