PORT ANGELES – Thanks to Clallam County Commissioner Mike Doherty – and trusting to a wee bit more of his Irish luck – work will move forward to replace the 1913 Elwha River Bridge.
Doherty, D-Port Angeles, and his fellow commissioners today will award a $16.4 million contract to Parsons Corp. of Sumner, even though they had originally expected to pay only $10.9 million for the project.
Doherty’s colleagues credited him and the county’s Public Works Department staff for prying loose nearly $2.9 million more from the state Department of Transportation and the National Park Service.
Transportation added $2 million to the project from federal funds it administers.
The park service promised $850,000 to build an access road into the Elwha canyon that will serve both the bridge project and the construction of a new Port Angeles water treatment plant that will be required when the Elwha dams are removed.
