FORKS — Olympic National Forest officials expect to have crews working on Forest Road 29 — known as the A Road in Forks — by early summer and hope to reopen it to the public before fall.
The agency has received $1.7 million in disaster relief supplemental funding to restore temporary access along Forest Service Road 29, officials reported in a press release.
The road has been closed since mid-November because of debris flows and washouts after storms dropped more than 10 inches of rain on areas already saturated by rainstorms.
The agency had been seeking funding through Emergency Relief for Federally Owned Roads (ERFO) and other sources to fully repair Forest Service Road 29 and other forest roads damaged last fall.
The funds are to go toward the installation of temporary structures to allow access and egress through the northwest portion, according to the Forest Service website at www.fs.usda.gov.
Preliminary work, including design and planning, is in progress now to prepare sites for pending structure installation and to ensure protection of natural resources such as fisheries, it said.
Work on the road is expected to begin in late spring to early summer with an estimate of having the road accessible by late summer “if no unforeseen circumstances occur,” officials said.
The runoff from the heavy rainfall last fall triggered multiple debris flows and washouts which impacted forest service roads and caused more than 10 major road-damaged areas, according to the website.
“In some locations, remaining asphalt may not be adequate to support motor vehicle traffic, and some stretches of road have been completely washed out,” the release said.
The estimate is that all damage in the Olympic National Forest won’t be repaired for about two years.
Other sections of forest roads closed because of damage are Forest Service Road 2922, from about mile post 2.0 for the rest of the roadway; Forest Service Road 2923, at milepost 12 when driving from Cooper Ranch Road; County Road 2932, also known as Bogachiel and Undi roads, closed above private lands; Forest Service Road 30, between milepost 8.5 to 10.5.
A closure also is in effect on the Quinault Lodge Trail.
For updates on this project, visit the Olympic National Forest’s website page or call a forest service office.
