PORT TOWNSEND — Chamber of Commerce General Manager Tim Caldwell sees potential opportunity in the most recent developments in the ongoing Port Angeles graving yard saga.
“Let’s do both of them,” Caldwell said Monday. “That’s the best of both worlds, as far as I see it.”
Caldwell voiced support of continuing the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe’s archaeological dig at the Marine Drive site, which he sees as the precursor to a major Native American museum and cultural center like that operated by the Makah tribe in Neah Bay.
Since 2002, Caldwell has led a coalition of Jefferson County tourism interests hoping to soften the effects of the planned eight-week closure of the Hood Canal Bridge to install a new eastern half.
The original plan was to close the bridge in spring 2006, but after artifacts and remains were found on the Port Angeles site of the graving yard — in which the new bridge components would be built — the delay pushed the replacement date back to 2007.
Although no commitment has been made, state Transportation Director Doug MacDonald has hinted that the east-half replacement could again be delayed to 2008.
