PORT ANGELES –Federal officials could decide in the next few weeks how much longer archaeological excavation at the state Department of Transportation’s graving yard will last.
Lower Elwha Klallam tribal and Transportation officials have different opinions about how deep — both literally and figuratively — the archeological excavation of the former Klallam waterfront village should be.
They have turned to Federal Highway Administration officials for a decision.
“It is time to resolve it,” said state Transportation Secretary Doug MacDonald in a telephone interview with Peninsula Daily News.
“We can’t continue to talk past each other to settle when the archaeological excavation is going to be completed.”
“We are asking for the respect of our sacred spiritual grounds,” counters Tribal Chairwoman Frances G. Charles.
“We are dealing with a national historic landmark cemetery that is much larger than anyone anticipated.
“We do not want our ancestors placed under concrete with thousands of pounds of water on their graves for who knows how long.”
Another delay on bridge?
MacDonald said it is crucial for Transportation to move forward with construction at the graving yard if replacement of the aged eastern portion of the Hood Canal Bridge is to stay on schedule in 2007.
“It is too early to know if we are looking at another delay, but it is a major concern,” he said.
“Until we have a sense of the (Federal Highway Administration) ruling, we really do not know.”
Transportation originally planned to replace the floating bridge’s east half in 2006, but delays at the graving yard by the discovery of the former village of Tse-whit-zen pushed back the replacement date to 2007.
The 22.5-acre Port Angeles site is the future home of Transportation’s graving yard — a huge onshore dry dock in which components to replace the eastern half of the Hood Canal Bridge will be built.
The concrete lined graving yard, which would be filled with seawater to float the components into the harbor and eventually to Hood Canal, would be large enough to fit four Navy battleships side by side, according to a Department of Transportation schematic shown in early 2003.
Bridge pontoons of up to 8,300 tons and 340 feet long, and anchors weighing up to 1,875 tons would be built.
Transportation officials want to use the graving yard for future floating bridge projects near Seattle after the Hood Canal project is completed.
They have planned the Port Angeles facility to employ 100 workers and last 50 years.
But since graving yard construction began — and was suspended — in August 2003, hundreds of human skeletal remains and thousands of artifacts dating back 200 to 1,700 years have been uncovered.
