PORT ANGELES — The state Department of Transportation will pay $4.84 million to buy the 22.4-acre Marine Drive graving yard site from the Port of Port Angeles, ending 14 months of negotiations.
The figure includes $4.7 million for 20.06 acres of land and 2.4 acres of fill on state tidelands, $109,000 in interest, plus attorney fees, appraisal fees, easement fees and reimbursement for Port planning of the site’s future uses.
The deal was announced by DOT and the Port on Monday.
The graving yard will be used to build floating bridge pontoons and anchors, part of a $255 million project to replace the east half and retrofit the west half of the Hood Canal Bridge.
The Port Angeles site is large enough to allow the assembly of multiple bridge pontoons simultaneously, which will provide for greater project schedule flexibility, DOT officials said.
The graving yard — a huge concrete-lined dry dock capable of holding four Navy battleships side by side — also could be used to build components to replace the Evergreen Point Bridge over Lake Washington between Seattle and Medina later this decade.
