Port Angeles Evening News from Port Angeles, Washington • Page 27

-J SV 5 c- 1 1 Jr 5 March 27, 1970 r'C" 24 HOUR CALL hot? while working on the Highway 101 wjdening project east of the A busy decade for Peninsula high ways the Hood Canal bridge opened they scratched another ferry run By Donald V. Paxson Clallara County residents, along with others on the North Olympic Peninsula, were looking forward to the day when they could cross Hood Canal on a bridge and not have to worry about another ferry schedule when the 1960 decade dawned. It was the first year Into that decade when the big day arrived. Automobile traffic began rolling across thenewfloat. Ing bridge and another ferry route which had seen busy vessels carrying people and vehicles across the canal for years was scratched from the state's ferry system.

Before people could use that new bridge, they had to get to It and that project was a hefty piece of highway work. The job started near where the old road made a wide, sweeping curve toward South Point, the former ferry dock. From there the new stretch of roadway, with its wider travel lanes and broader shoulders, made its way to the long hill overlooking the canal, then swept down to the west end of the bridge. State Sen. Gordon Sandison of Port Angeles saw something else in the bridge a short time later.

He envisioned the lower level of the structure as a fishing platform. He was serious about the idea, but his fellow lawmakers just wouldn't see it in that light and fishermen lost their shot at a fine fishing "pier." There were some technical and insurance reasons which also entered into the final dec is ion. While the majority was keeping an eye on the work to the east, residents in the West End and others more concerned with that area were happily watching the goings on with the Highway 101 route around Lake Sutherland and the approach to Lake Cres. cent. During 1959 and 1960 the narrow, winding highway was replaced by a roadway with wider lanes and shoulders and far more gentle curves.

A longtime irritant to area drivers and an extension to the Highway 101 improvements In this area came about in 1963 when the long Elwha Hill was improved. Lanes were added so passenger cars could safely pass loaded logging trucks grinding their way up the long incline. Previously, drivers either crept along behind the trucks until one of the ful truckers waved them on or some took a chance and passed. Still others ed until they reached the top before going on around. In 1963 the highway department took the first step toward eliminating the winding route residents drove to reach the Hood Canal Bridge approach.

Work began on the first section of new highway which would eventually connect with Highway 101 Just north of Crocker Lake. The first part of the project took the highway to the Center area. It was completed In 1965. The next year tfie second part of the Job began. By the summer of 1968, residents saw Highway 104 join up with Highway 101, the "marriage" they had been looking forward to for a long time.

Closer to home, the dirt began to fly on a new four.lane approach to the city in 1965. The project started at Brook Street east of the city and came to just east of Ennis Street. Completion of the four-lane approach posed a traffic problem and resulted in a bitter battle over a traffic pattern in the elty. The state was reluctant to have two lanes of Incoming traffic funneled into one lane as it entered the city. It proposed the one-way traffic pattern now in use, westbound on Front Street and eastbouod on First Street.

Before the i ysUm finally canje into being, other ideas were tried. One was to eliminate all parking on First Street and make it four lanes. That met too many objections, so another' scheme was tried one lane in and two lanes out with parking on one side of the street. That plan also ran into objections, so the city turned to the present pattern in 1967. Other plans advanced included a Local Improvement 'District" to widen First Street so it could carry four lanes of traffic with parking on both sides, but the City said the proposal did not have the required number of signatures.

After the one-way system was put into use, a lawsuit was filed, but it was dropped later. Last year Highway 101 was widened from Fairview to Sequim with the trouble' ome intersection at Carlsborg channeliz- ed to make it easier for left turn traf- fie. Currently, work is progressing on a project to four-lane 101 from Brooks Street to Deer Park Road. This two- mile stretch includes the new Morse Creek bridge and relocation of the bridge approaches. Once this project Is completed, 101 will be four lanes from the eastern edge of the city to Deer Park Road.

As with many others in the "39 and holding" age group, Resident Engineer Ed Smith of the State Highway Department shook his head over the "rapid" passage of the decade. He looked at the records of the many projects in the district and remarked it didn't seem like It had been that long ince they were completed. While work was going full tilt on Highway 101, Highway 9A at the start of the 1960s, and now designated Highway 112, was and is still getting its share of attention. A highway loop and narrow bridges were eliminated in 1960 when new spans were, built over the Lyre River andSusie Creek and a wider section of highway put in. During that opening year of the decade, a new bridge was put in spanning Green Creek in the ClalJarn Bay area.

The Sekiu River bridge got new decking and a new -approach, and a completely new bridge was built over the Clallam River. That same year a new bridge was built over Bullman Creek and in the following year the Sekiu-Twin Rivers paving project was completed. In 1962, records show, the highway partment made embankment repairs along the strait from Clallara Bay to NeahBay. Two years later the Clallam Bay.Twin Rivers paving job was completed. Currently two Jobs are under way on 112, The Clallara Bay to Clallam River regradlng and relocation of the highway and regradlng and realignment of 112 at Sekiu.

Highly vocal critics of Highway 112 may soon lose the one thing that really puts them on the soapbox the one. way lower Elwha River bridge. Plans are well under way to put in a new bridge about a mile upstream from the present span. They call for the new approach to take off from Highway 101 near Laird's Corner, about five miles west of the city, cross the new bridge and rejoin the present highway at the Place Road intersection. Funds for this project, or at least a part of it, are expected by the highway engineers to come from the next legislature.

More improvements for Highway 101 between Port Angeles and Sequim are in the works. Surveys for relocating and four.jantag the bigbvay from Deer Park Road to Fairview have been made and now it is a matter of money becoming available. Highway 112 critics also lost another cue of their main targets when the sharp Singhose Corner was eliminated last year. Over the decade, Clallam County has kept up with its road building and improvements. One of the major projects was extensive work on the LaPush Road, including a new bridge put over the Boga.

chiel River. The most extensive project has been re. locating and rebuilding of the Burnt Moun. tain Road which runs from Sappho to Pysht Junction. This has been a joint venture with the Forest Service and the U.S.

Bureau of Public Roads. The final section of the road is now ready for paving and again it is a ques. tlon of when funds will be available, according to William L. Allen area engineer for the Bureau of Public Roads. Clallara County Commissioner Thomas Mansfield of Forks has been one of the driving forces behind the project since it started a number of years ago.

He also is the leader in the proposal to construct a road between Lake Ozette and some beach areas south and west of Neah Bay. Slide problems are cropping up in the one highway building project in the area which isn't state or county. Although the state has taken a big hand in it, the latter stages have been up to the National Park Service and the Bureau of Public Roads. The project is the new parkway from Pioneer Memorial Museum to the Heart o' the Hills. The state bought the right of way and located the road, then turned it all over to the two federal agencies.

Now with bids for paving of the new road to be opened next month, slide problems have cropped up in some spots. Allen said it would be up to the Park Service to supply the funds to do whatever work is necessary. Smith, a veteran of many years in road and highway construction, said contractors still are using about the same methods and materials they have used for years, but the equipment is much big. ger. He noted that where 18-yard capacity earth movers were the big thing in 1960 they are now of 35-to 40.yard capacity.

Highway standards have not changed much except for the use of a 12.foot travel lane Instead of 11 feet in many cases, Smith observed. One development in bridge building is the use of more pro-stressed girders instead of the plain type, Smith said. Taking a look at the future and the growing opposition to more freeway building, especially in the Seattle area, Allen wasn't impressed. He said as long as Detroit produces automobiles and people buy them there will be a need for more highways. LARGEST ROAD SERVICE FACILITY ON THE OLYMPIC PENINSULA RADIO DISPATCHED SERVICE TRUCKS ON Authorized AAA Repair Station KEY SERVICE BODY AND FINDER REPAIR COMPLETE IMAM MECHANICAL URGE PAINT ROOM REPAIRS DUKE'S AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE CENTER 101 East Sequim 683-4142 GROWING WITH SEQUIM WE HONOR BANK CARDS In Friendly Sequim GREEN STAMPS TIRE PROBLEMS? STOP IN SEE US We Specialize CUSTOM RETREADING OF STANDARD AND WIDE OVAL TIRES (PASSENGER TIRES C4 TRUCK TIRES FARM TIRES Wheel Balancing A Alignment Tire Repair HEAVY DUTY RIMS for CAMPERS TIRE SERVICE P.

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