PORT ANGELES — Clallam County is asking for bids for Phase 2 of the lower Dungeness floodplain restoration project.
Phase 2 will include the removal of the old levee and realignment and repair of Towne Road. This work will take about a year to complete and require the temporary closure of the road.
“It’s going to be a big construction site and we just want to keep everyone safe,” Project Manager Cathy Lear said.
Bids are due by June 7.
Towne Road will be closed in both directions between the Dungeness Valley Creamery and the Old Dungeness Schoolhouse from July 5 of this year through September 2023, according to Clallam County Commissioner Mark Ozias.
“Once the new levee is built, the new Towne Road will be on top of the levee and the section of Towne Road will be removed as part of the restoration of the floodplain,” he said.
Phase 1 of the project began last September with a $5.5 million contract awarded to Scarsella Brothers, Inc., based in Kent.
That first phase included the construction of the new levee and embankment along the road and is estimated to be completed by the end of June.
This work will allow the river to flow through its historic floodplain.
The project has been a collaboration between the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and the North Olympic Lead Entity for Salmon.
In other broad action, Clallam County approved an ordinance to reorganize the County Board of Health in order to meet the requirements of state legislation.
House Bill 1152 went into effect in July 2021. The bill requires that county boards of health include public health practitioners, community stakeholders, tribal representatives and consumers of public health.
“This will have less impact on us than it will on other counties as we have already organized much of the board of health in the way the legislation requires, just adding new positions,” Ozias said.
“Other counties have had to do massive expansions to their boards,” Commissioner Randy Johnson echoed.
The current Clallam Board of Health is made up of the three county commissioners, a Port Angeles City Councilor, two public health officials and a representative for the hospital district.
