OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — Drivers have a one-week respite from four-hour delays on U.S. Highway 101 around Lake Crescent.
The final phase of a three-year project to rehabilitate 12 miles of the highway around the lake began in March.
Four-hour delays were originally announced to begin this coming Monday, but the process for a modified permit has put a kink in that optimistic schedule.
The long delays will begin April 22.
They will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays through May 23.
The park is working with the Federal Highway Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to get a modified permit to allow work below the ordinary high water mark of Lake Crescent near milepost 229, Penny Wagner, park spokesperson, has said.
This week, work will continue with guardrail installation on the east end of the project between milepost 232 at East Beach Road and milepost 229.
Drivers can expect up to half-hour delays each direction during weekday work hours and slower travel times through the work zone.
A pilot car will guide traffic within work areas with alternating lanes.
Work hours are restricted to two hours after sunrise to two hours before sunset.
When the four-hour delays begin, workers will complete road restoration near milepost 229 by constructing a mechanically stabilized earth retaining wall, Wagner has said.
These longer delays are not permitted during the busy summer season between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
During the four-hour delays, the highway for drivers traveling eastbound from Forks will be open to the turn for Barnes Point, where Lake Crescent Lodge is located.
Highway 101 westbound from Port Angeles will remain open up to mile marker 232/East Beach Road.
Travelers to and from the western side of the North Olympic Peninsula can use state Highway 112/113 as an alternate route during the delay.
Strider Construction Inc. of Bellingham is the contractor for the $27.5 million project.
The project is being managed collaboratively by the Federal Highway Administration and the National Park Service.
For project updates, see go.nps.gov/LCHwy101 Project.
