Port Townsend council passes six-year transportation program

Published 1:30 am Thursday, July 9, 2026

PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend City Council has approved its six-year Transportation Improvement Program, which includes projects totaling more than $100 million.

The council approved the program, covering projects for 2027-32, during its meeting Monday night.

“This is a requirement of state law that we put a planning list together,” city engineer David Dinkuhn said.

A summary states the need for about $117.5 million “seems quite unattainable,” which leads to the second purpose of the program.

“Most grant programs for transportation dollars require that projects be included in the (Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program (STIP)) in order to be eligible,” the summary states. “The STIP shows that the agency is thinking ahead to needs that are generally based off adopted plans, comprehensive plan policies or simple deficiencies.”

The third purpose is to identify areas where more funding is needed.

The program includes an estimated need for local funding of $25.4 million based on locally funded street work and on a 20 percent to 25 percent match for grants.

During his presentation, Dinkuhn went over updates on several projects which were included in last year’s STIP and are expected to be completed by the end of the year or in 2027.

Last year’s STIP included 54 projects while this year’s proposal includes 49 projects.

There were no public comments during the required public hearing. The council unanimously approved a resolution to adopt the STIP without asking any additional questions.

Skate park mural

During the meeting, the council also approved the selection of Jesse Joshua Watson as the artist to paint the Skate Park Mural, as recommended by the Arts Commission.

“I think it’s really incredible to just hold a little space for the fact that the last time the city did a call for artists and had a public art project was in 2014,” Community Services Director Melody Sky Weaver said.

The city called for artists in March for the project at the Seamus Sims Skate Park. The project is a Port Townsend Creative District program primarily funded through an ArtsWA Creative District Capital grant for $30,000. A panel was put together to screen the 17 artists who answered the call.

“The panel that we put together really wanted to make sure that there was a geographic limit, that we were going to do a call for artists and pay an artist that resided in Jefferson County,” Weaver said.

The 17 artists were whittled down to three finalists, who presented to the public in June. After receiving feedback from about 50 community members, the panel chose Watson.

Watson was the No. 1 artist candidate throughout the process, Weaver said, adding that he has painted many public murals in the region and throughout the state.

“His concept is an underwater theme that may or may not be kind of futuristic or potentially dystopian,” Weaver said. “I love what Jesse talked about in his presentation … the fact that skate culture’s never turned away from having hard conversations and being able to look at hard realities and also to see Port Townsend as a resilient, hopeful community.”

The mural will cover 17,000 linear square feet of narrow, long concrete walls. It is expected to be completed by November.

“I think that the three finalists were all really amazing artists, and I’m really grateful to be chosen,” Watson said.

Watson plans to collaborate with the skating community on his design, he said.

In addition to the $30,000 grant, the project will be paid for with $19,550 in city matching funds, private donations, in-kind contributions and labor and budgeted funds from the city’s Arts Fund.

The city approved another arts-related request Monday after hearing a presentation requesting city council approval to apply for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Our Town grant.

If the grant is approved, the city will accomplish multiple goals with the funds, Weaver said.

“We’re trying to bring more community-created artwork into our street scape,” she said. “We want to bring different city plans and priorities to life in a concrete way through active engagement and being able to compensate artists for their creative and professional development with being able to be a part of the city, which is exciting.”

The application will be for close to $100,000, but the NEA could chose not to fund it or to only partially fund it, Weaver said.

“NEA has several different grants, but the Our Town one is focused on cross-sector community center projects that leverage art and placemaking in the creative economy,” Weaver said. “They want to involve artists in planning cultural asset building and public art. They want to also help artists become better project leaders.”

If funded, the grant would cover the project for two years, with a call for artists going out in spring 2027 and the project expected to be completed by June 2028.

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Reporter Emily Hanson can be reached by email at emily.hanson@peninsuladailynews.com.