McDonald Creek Bridge set for closure July 5 as businesses ready for impact

SEQUIM — McDonald Creek Bridge likely will close in the coming weeks for up to nine months for reconstruction, which could lead to an inconvenience for drivers and raised fears of a possible dip in sales for Agnew businesses.

Clallam County commissioners plan to sign off at their regular meeting Tuesday to close a portion of Old Olympic Highway for the bridge project starting July 5 and running tentatively through early April 2018.

However, county engineer Pat McElroy said they’ve been conservative with the time frame and construction might be done in February or March of 2018.

In early May, commissioners approved a $3.07 million bid with Orion Marine Contractors Inc. of Tacoma, to lead the project.

McElroy said the 1957 bridge will be demolished and a new bridge will be seismically stable and widen the roadway from 24 feet to 40 feet.

He said the county opted not to repair the old bridge because it was functionally obsolete and would have cost much more than building a new bridge.

County officials report about 70 percent of the costs for the project comes from county funds and the rest from federal funds.

McElroy said they’ve tried to keep neighbors in the loop about the closure.

Once the closure is approved, he said large reader boards will go up on Old Olympic Highway along with detour signs.

Several alternate routes have been proposed such as traveling on U.S. Highway 101 and backtracking to one of the many roads east or west of the closure.

During Sequim Lavender Weekend, July 21-23, county staff plan to set up detours for nearby lavender farms Victor’s Lavender Farm and Washington Lavender.

Travelers coming from Sequim will be advised to drive west on Old Olympic Highway to Kitchen-Dick Road and to the highway and back up Barr Road.

Dan and Janet Abbott, owners of George Washington Inn, 939 Finn Hall Road, said they’ve worked closely with the city of Sequim and Clallam County Roads Department to find the most direct route to their farm and festivals — Washington Lavender Festival and the Northwest Colonial Festival, Aug. 10-13.

The Abbotts said they’ve prepared by printing the preferred route in publications but they fear some visitors will become frustrated with the detour.

“The greatest impact will be visitors who are coming from Sequim for the festivals and throughout the summer,” Dan Abbott said. “Visitors coming from the west will still have easy and direct access from U.S. Highway 101 via Old Olympic Highway.”

The Abbotts say they don’t anticipate a significant impact to their inn because most reservations come from online, but they feel guests will opt to eat in Port Angeles rather than Sequim due to the inconvenience of turning left on Highway 101.

The Abbotts said they asked the county to delay construction until after Sequim Lavender Weekend, but it would cut into the county’s timeframe to work in the creek bed.

Dr. Nicole Wagnon, owner of Blue Mountain Animal Clinic, 2972 Old Olympic Highway, purchased the business about a year ago and said the business is entering its busiest time of year.

“About half of our client base comes from Sequim and about half use that route [along Old Olympic Highway],” she said.

“It’s going to be a massive inconvenience but we’re going to make every accommodation we can to make it easier to get to us and keep things rolling.”

To educate her customers, Wagnon said she’s sending out a mailer to customers with the new route and she plans to post signs in the clinic’s lobby.

“We’re hoping it will not be as big of an impact as I’m afraid it will be,” she said. “The good thing is we’re mostly appointments, so we can warn them about redirect.”

She and McElroy say they hope customers also will continue to support Agnew Grocery & Feed, which they say relies a lot on stop-in traffic.

“We’re hoping to have incentive for [customers] to get them in the door there so that they don’t lose business,” Wagnon said. “We’re trying to keep the Agnew community alive.”

Chris Frankfurth, owner of Agnew Grocery & Feed, 2863 Old Olympic Highway, said he plans to remain positive through the construction.

“The store has made it 91 years and we have loyal customers who can make it here via Shore Road and Barr Road,” he said.

Frankfurth said they’ll continue to offer an “odd niche of things” such as beer and wine tastings and continue to open the feed business on Sundays to attract more people on weekends.

He might also put something on a reader board at Frankfurth Auto Body on Highway 101.

While he and others are unsure of the impact of the closure, Frankfurth said when the county widened Old Olympic Highway it did affect business but he’s going to remain positive and “hope we can keep [the store] open continuously.”

McElroy said he hopes locals will continue to go to Agnew Grocery and other area businesses.

“We’re starting late enough in the summer that hopefully they’ll get some of the benefit of the summer,” he said.

Fire Chief Ben Andrews with Clallam County Fire District No. 3 said the bridge construction shouldn’t make a significant impact on response time for fire or medical calls to the area.

He said the Carlsborg Station will be most affected because it services the Agnew area and the closure will add a minute or two to a call response.

Fire officials are looking into a notification system through the dispatch center to let them know when they need to take Highway 101 versus Old Olympic Highway if it’s in the vicinity of the closure, Andrews said.

For more information on the McDonald Creek Bridge closure, visit www.clallam.net/roads/ McDonaldCreek.html.

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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.