BRINNON — Work should be completed within the next two weeks on a washed out section of Dosewallips Road west of U.S. Highway 101 to one-lane traffic, a county roads official said.
“We should be pretty far along by Wednesday. It should be fairly stable, and we’ll probably finish up the following week,” said Monte Reinders, county roads engineer, said Seton Construction of Port Townsend, the same company that is upgrading Upper Sims Way in Port Townsend, is doing the repair work in Brinnon.
About $200,000
Reinders estimated it would cost the county about $200,000 to rebuild the road section of about 20 feet.
The county roads official said work would involved placing free-draining quarry rock on the lost embankment and re-asphalting the road.
The washout led the Jefferson County commissioners late last Friday to declare a state of emergency, an action intended to expedite the road repair process.
Flaggers direct traffic around the site during the day, which is cordoned off with orange cones and flashing lights to warn motorists at night, he said.
“I am just thankful the road didn’t go,” said Dosewallips Road resident Joe Baisch who lives west of the washout with his wife, Joy on riverside property. “I would be hiking.”
Joe Baisch said he was concerned about his elderly neighbors, who have to make frequent trips to doctors’ offices.
He said it appeared that workers were making good progress.
Heavy rains
The washout — caused by surging water from the Dosewallips River, which swelled during last week’s heavy rain — is a small section on the eastbound side of the road, nearest to the water and 2.7 miles from Highway 101.
Two of the three county commissioners, David Sullivan and John Austin, signed the state of emergency order Friday afternoon.
Austin explained the intent of the order was to allow work to begin immediately.
County road crews began dumping large rocks down the washed-out part of the bank to build an access road for an excavator to get down the hill and shore up the problem areas that remain.
Westbound lane
Crews hope to create room along the westbound lane to reopen the road to two-way traffic.
Dosewallips Road also had a washout in 2002 inside Olympic National Forest. That gouge in the road about 10 miles west of Highway 101 made vehicle passage impossible.
County officials and the U.S. Forest Service are not working on rerouting Dosewallips Road farther above the Dosewallips River.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
