McClatchy News Service and Peninsula Daily News
PORT ANGELES — Anyone driving the roads through Olympic National Park can spot the need for repairs and maintenance in the park.
There are potholes caused by freezing and cracking, upheavals from tree roots, slumps from roadside washouts.
Those issues are part of the more than $133.2 million in deferred maintenance at ONP.
In total, there is almost $507.2 million in unfunded repair projects at eight National Park Service units in Washington state.
Nationwide, the Park Service puts the total for 2014 at $11.49 billion for 407 locations.
The Park Service describes “deferred maintenance” as necessary work on infrastructure — such as roads and bridges, visitor centers, trails, and campgrounds — that has been put off for more than a year.
Aging facilities, increasing use and inadequate funding are the key factors to the growing backlog, according to Park Service managers.
At ONP, maintaining more than 600 miles of trails tops the priority list, but the park receives just 9 percent of what is needed for that, spokeswoman Barb Maynes said.
The estimated cost of eliminating the backlog is $5.4 million, she added.
Road maintenance is the most expensive item, estimated at $106.9 million.
Maynes said the park receives 55 percent of what is necessary for road maintenance.
The deferred maintenance on the park’s 468 buildings is estimated at $7.3 million.
“Within each of these categories, funding would be allocated first to highest-priority assets with the greatest need,” Maynes said.
In its $3 billion budget request for fiscal year 2016, the Park Service has requested $242.8 million a year to deal with the backlog. That would be in addition to a mandatory proposal to provide $300 million annually for maintenance over three years.
“Over 10 years, that would get our most critical assets in good condition and keep them that way,” Park Service spokesman Jeffrey Olson said.
With federal budget requests and proposed fee increases, the Park Service hopes enough money can be generated to quickly reduce the backlog.
