A NOTE ON Facebook from Port Angeles resident Leya Heart:
“Yippety doo dah, our Deer Park Underpass is finally here! Been waiting 30 years for this!!!
“And we have a great rest stop for weary travelers, too . . . with some exquisite outhouses . . . LOL”
Here’s our story from earlier this week:
By Rob Ollikainen
Peninsula Daily News
PORT ANGELES — The Deer Park underpass has quietly opened to traffic.
The half-mile Clallam County road that connects Deer Park Road and Buchanan Drive by ducking under U.S. Highway 101 east of Port Angeles unofficially opened after its lanes were striped Sept. 9, Assistant County Engineer Joe Donisi said.
“It was kind of a soft opening,” he said.
No date has been set for a planned ribbon-cutting ceremony to dedicate the long-awaited underpass, County Engineer Ross Tyler said.
The sweeping two-lane Deer Park Loop eliminates the hazardous left turn across the four-lane highway from Deer Park Road and Buchanan Drive.
Those left turns will be blocked off Monday night if the weather cooperates, Donisi said.
“Removing existing and placing new channelization should take two or three nights beginning at 8 p.m.,” he added.
Crews on Wednesday removed barriers blocking the original exit to the scenic overlook on the north side of the highway at the crest of the Morse Creek ravine.
Six restrooms were installed in three new buildings at the overlook-rest area, which can also be accessed from Deer Park Loop.
“The easternmost bathroom is ready to go,” Donisi said.
Clallam County commissioners last year awarded a $4.8 million construction contract to Scarsella Bros. Inc. to build the federally funded underpass and new rest area.
Scarsella Bros. is the same Kent-based contractor that is widening U.S. Highway 101 from two lanes to four lanes along a 3.5-mile corridor between Port Angeles and Sequim.
Crews broke ground on the county underpass project in August 2013.
County officials had been working to plan and finance the new crossing for more than a decade to eliminate the hazard of vehicles turning left across the busy highway.
Donisi predicted that drivers will get used to the new traffic patterns “pretty fast.”
The posted speed limit on Deer Park Loop is 30 mph.
“We kind of all envisioned a grand opening type of thing, but it’s not really like that,” Donisi said.
Last-minute scheduling conflicts contributed to the soft opening, he said.
“The good news is it’s all pretty much online right now,” he said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
