PYSHT — The scenic highway across the western top of the North Olympic Peninsula will be whole again on Wednesday.
That straightens out a detour required for the past 1½ months that sent drivers bound for Clallam Bay, Sekiu and Neah Bay on a long-distance route via Sappho.
The state Department of Transportation and its contractor, Bruch and Bruch Construction Inc. of Port Angeles, are scheduled to wrap up the priority fish culvert replacement project that closed state Highway 112 in early September.
Traffic on the road — also known as the Strait of Juan de Fuca National Scenic Byway — will be restricted to one lane Wednesday while crews complete guardrail installation between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
By sundown, Transportation will clear the area and remove all detours, an agency spokesman said Monday.
During the closure west of Joyce, drivers from Port Angeles were directed west on U.S. Highway 101 to Sappho, then back to Highway 112 via state Highway 113.
Despite heavy rainfall in September, the Department of Transportation replaced the culvert and is on schedule to complete the final phase of minor roadwork and guardrail installation on the $870,000 project, said project engineer John Hart.
Crews worked six days a week, 12 to 14 hours a day, to complete the project during the creek’s low-flow period.
