PORT ANGELES – Clallam County’s one-lane bridge over the Elwha River now nearly has no lane at all.
Employees of Parsons Corp. of Sumner continued demolishing the Elwha River Road Bridge on Tuesday, removing its pavement and decking.
Parsons’ work will cost the county about $16.4 million – of which the county is short about $1.6 million.
At their Tuesday meeting, county commissioners officially accepted an added $1 million from the National Park Service for the project
The money is payment for a permit to lease the nearby Milwaukee Road railway grade as a construction route for removing the Elwha River dams.
Next, the county will approach the U.S. Forest Service for funds now that a new federal fiscal year has started, Commissioner Mike Doherty, D-Port Angeles, said on Tuesday.
The span, which opened in 1913, has been targeted for replacement for years.
It became the only bridge among 3,000 in Washington state to be closed as a safety precaution following the catastrophic collapse of the Interstate 35W span in Minneapolis in August.
When completed, the new bridge will carry two lanes of vehicle traffic on its top deck with a deck for bicyclists and hikers slung beneath it.
Work is expected to continue for 18 more months.
