In the Aug. 24 PDN, there is great article about the Sequim Highway 101 bypass.
Several years ago, I wrote to local, state and federal entities about the need for a bypass in Port Angeles, which has never had an alternate route out of town.
The longstanding joke was that you never wanted to steal a car in Port Angeles, because all the police had to do was block the east and west ends of Highway 101 through town.
I pointed out the seven streams that would need bridges and the shrinking availability of property to build such a road south of Port Angeles due to increased development in Port Angeles, the national forest and the national park.
The only response was from one state representative of the district. He told me it took 15 years for the Sequim bypass to be built, but he offered no alternatives.
All it takes is one emergency in Port Angeles to close all four lanes out of traffic on Highway 101 east.
Traffic is beginning to back up on this route even on a daily basis, and it’s worse during the summer.
Hopefully, someone will pick up on this and get things moving on a level that a peon like me was unable to reach.
Here the state is spending millions and millions of dollars on fish passages, while this project hasn’t even gotten on the back burner.
Ray Weigel
Port Angeles