An online open house begins this week to comment on predesign work for the U.S. 101 East Sequim Road Project that could complete the Simdars Road interchange.
The virtual open house began Thursday and runs through Feb. 10, according to Dennis Engel, WSDOT multi-modal planning manager.
A link is live at www.engage.wsdot.wa.gov and the project’s site at www.tinyurl.com/PDN-DesignStudy.
“We are looking at 14 potential improvements, including roundabouts and new U.S. (Highway) 101 on- and off-ramps at the Simdars Road interchange,” Engel said.
The study will be completed by May, and recommendations will be used to pursue project funding, he said.
Participants will be able to provide comments as part of the survey, Engel said, and they can be left at the end of the survey or emailed to him or Yvette Liufau, WSDOT senior transportation planner, using their contact information on the project’s webpage.
The Simdars Road interchange was originally set for completion with the opening of the 4.6-mile U.S. Highway 101 bypass in August 1999, but the eastbound off-ramp was left incomplete due to a lack of funds.
Multiple local agencies and municipalities have looked to complete the East Sequim Project with joint funding requests through the state Legislature for $26 million to build the ramps, construct a frontage road for Palo Alto Road and Happy Valley roads along the highway to the new interchange, and to add landscaping to the Sequim entryway.
Municipalities have formally written letters saying that completing the bypass would help economic development in the city’s east side and increase safety for Palo Alto and Happy Valley roads.
In 2019, legislators funded $1.3 million for the Department of Transportation to do predesign work and community outreach, which was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Engel said the work does not include planned construction on U.S. Highway 101 at Johnson Creek to increase fish passage. A proposed roundabout in Blyn is not included in the open house either, Sequim city leaders said.
Completing the Simdars Road interchange has remained a legislative priority for the city for several years.
Sequim City Manager Matt Huish said at the Jan. 24 City Council meeting he participated in a call last week about the project and that city staff and other local agencies shared “strong verbal opposition” for roundabouts coming into the city on the highway, particularly up hills.
City council member William Armacost suggested they consider a letter discouraging roundabouts because “we’d have people backed up to the Hood Canal Bridge” with the volume of truck traffic through the area.
Mayor Tom Ferrell said a letter is something they would likely consider in the coming months.
Assistant City Manager Charisse Deschenes suggested the city promote its previous legislative agenda during the process, which includes rerouting Palo Alto Road and Happy Valley Road off the highway rather than inserting roundabouts.
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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.
