PORT ANGELES — Five former walkways from downtown Seattle are being stored east of Port Angeles for future use on segments of the Puget Sound to Pacific Trail Corridor — a combination of the Olympic Discovery Trail and Sound to Olympics Trail in Clallam, Jefferson and Kitsap counties.
“It’s a pretty cool story,” said Jeff Bohman, president of the Peninsula Trails Coalition.
The original idea came from consultant Steve Durant of Seattle, who began knocking on doors at the Seattle Department of Transportation after learning that the agency had no plans for the temporary overhead walkways being used during the Colman Dock remodeling project.
He learned that the sources of the funding for the remodel wouldn’t object to them being surplussed to another government, Bohman said.
So the city of Seattle redirected the trucks from their intended storage area in Seattle to the Clallam County’s Morse Creek gravel pit, where they were unloaded Nov. 6 by local crane operators, Bohman said.
The five 13-foot-wide sections total 350 feet, including sections that are 72 to 86 feet long and two welded sections that measure 113 feet.
Bohman said the city of Seattle kept two of the seven segments after figuring out they could be reused elsewhere in the city.
Now the 14 jurisdictions involved in the Puget Sound to Pacific (PS2P) coalition know if they are working on a trail project and need a bridge, they are available whenever they are needed, Bohman said.
“I don’t think it would have happened without the PS2P project coming together,” he said.
“Everybody is really loving the fact of taking possession in the name of creative reuse,” Bohman continued. “Now we wait and see where they end up going.
That decision could be between a year and three years away.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at brian.gawley@peninsuladailynews.com.
One of the bridge spans sits at its previous Seattle location. The spans will be repurposed along the Olympic Discovery Trail. (Clallam County Public Works)
