PORT ANGELES — State Department of Transportation officials will review the status and future of the U.S. Highway 101 Elwha River bridge in a pair of open houses Tuesday.
The 90-minute open houses, which will include question-and-answer sessions, will be in Forks and Port Angeles.
The first session will begin at 4:30 p.m. at the Rainforest Arts Center in Forks, 35 N. Forks Ave.
The second open house will start at 7 p.m. in Port Angeles City Council chambers, 321 E. Fifth St.
A quorum of the Forks and Port Angeles city councils might be present at the respective meetings, but no action will be taken.
Transportation officials are monitoring the 90-year-old concrete bridge west of Port Angeles, which is being undercut by the now-free-flowing Elwha River.
Plans are in the works for replacing the bridge on a new, parallel or existing alignment.
A majority of Clallam County citizens and several local governments have called on Transportation officials to build a new bridge on a new alignment, which would eliminate the sharp corner just east of the span and keep traffic flowing on the old bridge during construction.
The agency eliminated three no-build options from further consideration after hearing from about 300 citizens concerned about using state highways 112 and 113 as detours.
Transportation has said its main goal is to keep the existing bridge operational until the replacement structure is finished.
State officials estimate that the new bridge-new alignment — option 7 — would cost between $18 million and $25 million and take one to two years to complete.
Clallam and Jefferson County commissioners, Port of Port Angeles commissioners and Forks City Council members have formally endorsed option 7.
