PORT TOWNSEND — Where to locate a new Hood Canal Bridge graving yard: Port of Port Townsend land, Port Townsend Paper Corp. property — or both?
Port and mill executives have only about a week to come up with the answer, and in writing, to the state Department of Transportation.
With enthusiastic support reaching to Port Angeles, Port of Port Townsend commissioners Wednesday called for a public-private partnership to relocate the graving yard from Port Angeles Harbor to Port Townsend Bay.
The Port’s three commissioners unanimously directed Port Executive Director Larry Crockett to work with Port Townsend Paper executives to come up with site options for the huge onshore dry dock to manufacture and float components for a new Hood Canal Bridge east half.
Crockett told the commissioners and at least 40 business and government representatives in the Point Hudson Marina Room that the main decision ahead is what to propose to the state Department of Transportation.
Two appear most obvious to Crockett:
* A graving dock primarily on mill property with Port land used as a support site.
* Or a Port boat yard site with storage and concrete batching on mill acreage.
“Since the mill is willing to partner, it really opens up our options,” said Crockett.
The Port’s proposed seven or more acres of tideland and upland property inside the old rail trestle at the boat yard is limited by wetlands and existing marine trades operations, and is closer to homes and commercial populations.
That site would be partly located inside the proposed “footprint” of the future 21-acre Port Townsend Boat Haven expansion area, directly south of the existing marina.
South of the mill
To the south of the mill is acreage that could include a graving yard site and concrete batching plant, on heavy industrial property that would allow a 24-hour operation so the state could catch up on lost construction time, Crockett suggested Wednesday.
The site also has a 600-foot deepwater pier that Crockett said could be used to tie up completed bridge pontoons.
