PORT ANGELES — Clallam County is moving its $7.5 million Deer Park safety improvement project underground.
Rather than building an overpass east of the intersection of U.S. Highway 101 and Buchanan Drive, public works officials on Monday proposed a conceptual design for an underpass west of the intersection.
Funding in place
Most of the funding for the long-awaited project is already in place.
The state Department of Transportation has agreed to transfer $3,771,602 for federal and state funds to the project, which includes an enhanced rest stop at the current scenic overlook on the westbound side of the highway.
The U.S. Department of Transportation released $871,416 for the project last month.
Special projects revenue from real estate excise tax is adding $2 million.
Another $1 million is coming from the regional allocation of federal gas tax money.
County officials said a bypass is needed to eliminate left turns onto the highway from Deer Park Road and Buchanan Drive. Those two intersections accounted for 34 wrecks and four fatalities from 2001 to 2008, county statistics show.
As proposed, most of the project will be built on state and county land, rather than private property, as the overpass would have required.
All told, the cost of going underground is basically the same as an overpass, said Ross Tyler, Clallam County engineer, at Monday’s commissioners work session.
Commissioners Mike Doherty and Mike Chapman expressed support for the new proposal.
“Visually, it’s going to be a lot more attractive,” Chapman said.
“When we have scenic views that we do, we’re always concerned about the impact of an overpass.”
Commissioner Steve Tharinger is away this week and did not attend the work session.
Besides the aesthetic value, Tyler said an underpass would be quieter that an overpass. Highway travelers will hardly notice it’s there, he added.
A new county road would be cut below the current highway grade, which will not change.
The road would be cut 20 to 25 feet below the highway, west of Deer Park Cinemas and C’est Si Bon restaurant.
It would go though a 40-foot-wide culvert, with two lanes for vehicle traffic and a 10-foot-wide pedestrian path for access to the Olympic Discovery Trail.
The highway would cross the county road on a 90-foot bridge.
“We call it a underpass — the state calls it an over-crossing,” Tyler said.
“Simple bridges like that are relatively easy to do.”
Rather than crossing a busy, four-lane highway with a posted speed limit of 45 mph, drivers heading to Port Angeles from Deer Park Road would go under the highway bridge, turn right on Cedar Park Drive, right on Buchanan Drive and merge onto Highway 101.
Clallam County would be obligated to maintain the expanded rest area at the scenic overlook, which will have six vault toilets, drinking water and additional parking space for cars and freight trucks.
It would also have signs with interpretive and cultural information.
The exact design of the underpass and traffic patters will be discussed in the coming months.
“Those are all details that we’ll hammer out,” Tyler said.
No action will be taken on the project in today’s board meting.
“We just want to make sure that this is agreeable — that we’re going down the right path,” Public Works Director Craig Jacobs said in the work session.
Tyler said the project is on pace to go to contract in late 2010 with construction taking place in 2011. Much of the excavating can be done in advance, even during the winter.
Meanwhile, the two commissioners are expected to sign today an agreement with the state Department of Transportation to add $68,000 in federal funds to the Mount Pleasant Road widening and resurfacing project.
This supplement, which is needed to match the bid, brings the cost of the project to $568,000.
Work is still needed on a 0.4-mile stretch from the Bonneville Power Administration power lines to Gravel Pit Road.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
