PORT ANGELES — Traffic engineers have been studying the possibility of lowering speed limits on U.S. Highway 101 in a two-lane stretch between Port Angeles and Sequim and for a patch of road in front of the 7 Cedars Casino.
Those ideas were discussed during a Wednesday meeting of the Highway 101 Safety Project steering committee.
The project focuses engineering, law enforcement and education resources on a 32-mile section of U.S. Highway 101 from Laird’s Corner to the Clallam-Jefferson county line at Diamond Point Road.
It was developed under the auspices of the state Traffic Safety Commission in response to an unusually high rate of collisions on the North Olympic Peninsula.
In addition to discussing lowering speed limits from 55 mph to 50 or 45 mph in Blyn and the two-lane section between Shore Road and Kitchen Dick Road, the group is also discussing its future.
At the end of next March, the group’s grant from the state Traffic Safety Commission expires.
That means dollars that go to pay for extra law enforcement patrols several times a month and other projects will dry up.
However, the group may continue meeting to discuss safety issues on the road, said Clallam County Sheriff’s Department Project Coordinator Jim Borte.
“We’re still kicking around the idea,” he said.
Don Heikkila, assistant superintendent for maintenance and operations for the state Department of Transportation region that covers Port Angeles, said the speed studies have been conducted partly at the request of local law enforcement agencies.
The sections of road under consideration for lower speed limits are near other slow areas, which could create a patchwork of different speed limits along short stretches of road, Borte said.
“Sometimes that can be pretty confusing for motorists,” he said.
