OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — Work on a $27.5 million project to rehabilitate 12 miles of U.S. Highway 101 around Lake Crescent will begin in mid-July rather than the end of the month, the national park has announced.
In March, Olympic National Park said that work on the project would begin at the end of April. In an announcement Friday, the park said work would instead begin in mid-July.
“The end of April was the soonest it could have happened,” said Penny Wagner, interim public information officer at the park.
“The contractor has elected to start in mid-July” to allow more time to pull together supplies and sub-contractors, she said.
The contract for the Lake Crescent Highway Rehab Project was awarded to Strider Construction Company of Bellingham on March 24. The project is being managed collaboratively by the Federal Highway Administration and the National Park Service.
An updated outline of the yearly schedule for Highway 101 is:
• Mid-July through Labor Day (summer season) — Half‐hour delays during weekday work hours, with short delays after-hours to accommodate alternating single-lane traffic.
• Early September through mid-November — Half‐hour delays during weekday work hours, with short delays after-hours to accommodate alternating single-lane traffic.
Limited four‐hour delays (from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. only) and six‐hour overnight delays (10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Mondays through Wednesdays only) might be scheduled. The park said such delays would be announced two weeks in advance.
• Mid-November through February — No construction.
• March (2018 and 2019 only) — Half‐hour delays during weekday work hours, with short delays after-hours to accommodate alternating single-lane traffic; possible limited four‐hour delays (from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. only) and six‐hour overnight delays (10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Mondays through Wednesdays only).
The contract includes about 12 miles of the Lake Crescent section of Highway 101 and four miles of East Beach Road, which is maintained by Clallam County. It combines a Clallam County Federal Land Access Program grant with Federal Land Transportation Program funds for roads on federal lands.
No traffic delays are planned before mid-July. The state Department of Transportation will complete pothole patching along Highway 101 at Lake Crescent before the contract work begins.
Four-hour delays will begin after Labor Day on the western half of U.S. Highway 101 (west from Barnes Point).
Unhindered access to Forks, Clallam Bay and other West End destinations will be accessible by marked detours on state highways 112 and 113.
The contractor’s proposed work for 2017 includes rockfall mitigation, all East Beach Road work and subsurface work on the western half of Highway 101 (west from Barnes Point). Subsurface work includes drainage replacement, deep patches and ditch under drains on Highway 101.
Repairs to East Beach Road will take place during the 2017 construction season. East Beach Road closures for repaving are restricted to after Labor Day 2017 and must be completed by mid-November. East Beach Road closures are not allowed concurrent with four-hour delays on Highway 101.
East Beach Road will be closed to through traffic for a maximum two‐week period in August, including one weekend, to allow for the replacement of the Log Cabin Creek culvert, a 25-foot-deep excavation. The new culvert will allow for fish passage.
During the closure, Log Cabin Resort will be accessible only from East Beach Road and the Lyre River Trailhead of the Spruce Railroad Trail will be accessible only from the Joyce-Piedmont Road.
The contractor is required to immediately open the road to emergency vehicles without delay at all times throughout the project.
