Business groups make last-ditch appeal for Ludlow ferry during 2009 Hood Canal Bridge closure
By Jeff Chew, Peninsula Daily News
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"We believe this is our last best hope to persuade [the state Department of Transportation] to choose a mitigation plan that we believe will provide passenger-only ferry access between Kitsap and Jefferson/Clallam counties, as well as vehicle ferry access between Port Townsend and Edmonds," Tim Caldwell, Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce general manager, wrote to chamber members.
The Department of Transportation and the Hood Canal Bridge project staff plan to launch a Web site link today to a survey to get public opinion on such a proposal.
Both Caldwell and Russ Veenema, Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce executive director, sent separate letters to state Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond this week.
Hammond, who spoke to a Port Angeles chamber luncheon audience Monday, told the Peninsula Daily News that afternoon that she's open to suggestions for temporary ferry service while the new eastern half of the floating bridge is installed.
Right now, her transportation agency plans a passenger ferry in a sparsely populated area south of the bridge — from South Point in Jefferson County to Lofall in Kitsap County.
The proposed Port Ludlow embarkation point is about 5 miles north of the bridge.
Car ferry urged
Caldwell and Veenema also strongly suggest in their letters to Hammond that a Port Townsend-Edmonds car ferry should be added during the six-week bridge project that will sever the North Olympic Peninsula's lifeline to the Puget Sound region.
Such car-ferry service was set up when the bridge's western half sank in 1979, severing the bridge for about three years.
"A Port Townsend-Edmonds auto ferry during the May-June 2009 Hood Canal Bridge closure is essential for mitigating the loss of business that will in fact occur," the Port Townsend chamber's letter states.
The bridge averages about 25,000 vehicle trips per day and Transportation's "Lessons Learned" report noted a significant portion of these travelers relied on a Port Townsend-Keystone route during a short August 2005 bridge closure.
The chamber letters have also been backed with support letters from Team Jefferson, Jefferson County's economic development arm at Washington State University's Port Hadlock Extension, the Olympic Peninsula Tourism Commission and the Port of Kingston.
Caldwell said other businesses expressing support are the Nippon Paper Industries USA mill in Port Angeles and the Printery in Port Townsend.
The current proposal
Transportation proposes a temporary parking lot at the Shine Quarry, temporary passenger ferry terminals at South Point and Lofall, and a temporary parking lot at Port Gamble — all at a cost of nearly $4 million
The money is earmarked as part of a bridge closure mitigation fund.
Buses would shuttle motorists between the parking lots and the ferry terminals on either side of Hood Canal.
The terminals and related infrastructure would be removed after the bridge project finished.
The Ludlow-Kingston passenger ferry service was used during a weeklong closure of the bridge in 2005 to replace its on-ramps, the chamber officials noted.
Parking lots at the Port Ludlow Associates Marina parking lot and the Kingston ferry terminal were also used.
The chambers propose a bus shuttle service, which would pick up the ferry passengers in Kingston and shuttle them to Bainbridge for the connection to Seattle and to other destinations.
"The savings proposed due to the substantially less infrastructure that needs to be built are significant, and would cover most if not all of the Port Townsend-Edmonds auto ferry route," Veenema states in the Port Angeles chamber's letter to Hammond.
We agree decisions should not be made to delay the construction; I am hoping you would be amenable to a suggestion," the Port Angeles letter to Hammond says.
"Citizens will be counting on [Transportation] to provide cost-effective solutions that do not delay this project."
'Opened up options'
Caldwell said since the Port Gamble S'Klallam tribe successfully lobbied Transportation last month to relocate the temporary bridge project passenger ferry landing from shellfish-rich Port Gamble Bay to Lofall, "I think it's opened up to other options."
He said the chambers of commerce urge business owners and residents to voice their support for both a Port Ludlow-Kingston passenger-ferry service and a Port Townsend-Edmonds car ferry during the bridge closure.
Veenema said he and Caldwell have been discussing ferry transportation issues for a long time and have been conducting an ongoing conversation with state officials.
Veenema agreed with Caldwell's position that other bridge project ferry mitigation options came back into play when the proposed Port Gamble ferry dock site was changed to Lofall.
"This something that Tim has been working on for quite some time," Veenema said of Caldwell.
Veenema said while driving across Hood Canal Bridge on Thursday, he heard Transportation's highway advisory radio station advertising the Web site survey, calling for public comments.
Becky Hixson, Hood Canal Bridge project communications manager, said a survey link is on the bridge project home page at www.hoodcanalbridge.com.
The survey, taken over two weeks, will ask about the options proposed by the chambers.
"We want to know which service that is going to best serve the people of the [Olympic] Peninsula," Hixson said.
Hammond will respond to the chambers, based on the survey results, Hixson said.
Survey idea
The survey idea came as a result of Hammond's speech to the Port Angeles chamber on Monday.
Caldwell said he and others will meet with the Port of Kingston and state Transportation to determine how much parking is available in Kingston.
He is also discussing Port Ludlow parking needs with Miriam Villiard, Port Ludlow Associates project manager.
Villiard said that Port Ludlow residents she has spoken with are favorable to passenger ferry service launched from the village's marina.
"A few people I have talked to are excited about having the opportunity of taking the ferry from Port Ludlow to Kingston," she said.
About 200 parking spaces are available around the marina, with some other undeveloped acreage that could also be used, if necessary.
She said she is working with Jefferson County and state officials to try to develop a proposal, and believes that such service would reduce the need for taking a shuttle from the Shine Quarry to South Point.
"Someone in Port Townsend could hop [Jefferson] Transit and not even need a parking space," she said.
Caldwell, who has long promoted passenger ferry service between Port Townsend and Seattle, said, "We'll see one way or the other in a couple weeks if this thing will bear fruit."
The Port Townsend chamber has proposed using its $100,000 savings to launch passenger ferry service from the Key City to Seattle on weekends to bolster the town's tourism industry.
Caldwell said a Port Townsend city ferry forum is in the works in September "to get all the players in a room together."
"We want to host it," he said.
"We want to come out of it with some capital assets to get some permanent passenger ferry service."
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Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: May 23. 2008 9:00PM