PORT ANGELES — A Deer Park overpass of U.S. Highway 101 looked a bit less over the rainbow Monday.
Clallam County Commissioner Mike Chapman said the Peninsula Regional Transportation Planning Organization had moved up the project on its wish list.
It now ranks just behind such must-do improvements as the retro¬fit of the Hood Canal Bridge and widening Highway 101 between Shore and Kitchen-Dick roads between Port Angeles and Sequim.
Chapman said planners also were trying to tie the overpass together with replacing the older of the two-lane spans over nearby Siebert Creek.
The bridge is ranked No. 1 for replacement among bridges in the four-county transportation organization that includes Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap and Mason counties.
Adding impetus to the overpass project is the Sequim City Council’s recent decision to turn down a proposed rest stop on Highway 101 at Simdars Road and recommend the rest stop instead be placed at the current Morse Creek overlook.
County planners say such a rest stop will make it easier for the state to construct an overpass.
Other projects
As for a proposal related to the Sequim rest stop idea, a Highway 101 off-ramp at Simdars Road, “there are other projects with a higher priority,” said Chapman, the Port Angeles independent who chairs the PRTPO.
As for the overpass, which has been discussed for decades, “it does rank high,” he said, “and people are excited about it.”
Chapman said County Commissioner Mike Doherty, D-Port Angeles, persuaded U.S. Sen. Patty Murray to include the overpass in a federal transportation bill.
The next step is to convince the state Legislature to embrace the project, he said.
To that end, Chapman said, local officials will meet Dec. 3 with the Olympic Peninsula’s legislative delegation.
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Reporter Jim Casey can be reached at 360-417-3538 or at jim.casey@ peninsuladailynews.com.
