PYSHT — The state Department of Transportation plans to have state Highway 112 open to traffic at Milepost 37 in a matter of weeks.
“We are looking at getting it open sometime within the next few weeks,” said Bill Riley, maintenance superintendent for DOT’s Port Angeles office.
The road has been closed at Milepost 37 after a 500-foot stretch of road gave way to a slow-moving landslide on Jan. 8.
Riley said the DOT will open that stretch of road to traffic after it builds a one-lane gravel road where the slide occurred. Stop signs will be posted at each end.
Realignment
The highway will be realigned around the slide on the south side of the current road after the DOT gets funding from the Federal Highway Administration, he said.
Riley said the DOT has been monitoring the slope, which hasn’t moved in the last three weeks.
“We will maintain the gravel road in case there is any more movement,” he said.
Riley said realigning the road will cost about $800,000.
He said the DOT applied for funding from the highway administration because it doesn’t have enough funds in its budget to do the work.
Funding approval
Riley said he hasn’t heard whether or not the DOT will be approved for the funding.
If the DOT doesn’t get the funding, it will have to wait until its next biennium budget, which begins in July, to get the funds from the state.
In that case, “we’ll have to maintain the gravel road through at least this summer and try to budget for it in the next biennium,” he said.
Riley said the administration provided funding for similar DOT projects in the Olympic region recently.
“There is no reason for them not to sign off on this one,” he said.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
