CLALLAM BAY — It has been a busy summer construction season on the Olympic Peninsula as the effects of this past winter’s storms continue to linger on highways in Clallam County.
Several of the state Department of Transportation’s emergency repair projects have wrapped up or will soon be finished.
On state Highway 112 near Clallam Bay, contractor crews finished a culvert installation late last week, according to the Department of Transportation (DOT) in a press release.
The culvert is intended to carry water from the hillside underneath the roadway.
Crews also finished final slide material removal and hillside excavation as well. Final paving has been done.
That project is now complete, DOT said.
The landslide near Clallam Bay was initially caused by rainstorms on Nov. 15 that brought down a hillside’s soil and debris to cover about 325 feet of the highway, measuring some 275 feet wide.
The slide broke a water main and, after trucking potable water in, Clallam County Public Utility District crews created a bypass to ensure water service in Clallam Bay. That has since been repaired.
On Nov. 28, more debris extended the slide another 200 feet across the roadway.
Moving farther to the west, construction began in late June to rebuild a washed-out area of U.S. Highway 101 a few miles south of Forks near the Clallam-Jefferson county border.
Emergency contractor Interwest Construction rebuilt and reinforced the nearby slope and drilled new drains into the hillside.
The slide site had been under one-way alternating traffic since mid-November.
Work was completed on Tuesday, DOT said.
Work on state Highway 113 at Burnt Mountain Road is expected to be completed today, DOT said.
Work began in June to install a new culvert and stabilize the hillside to allow water to flow properly through the area without a temporary water pump.
This aims to prevent water from eroding the highway embankment.
“Completing those three projects helps close the book on one of last winter’s storms, but there are two further emergency projects scheduled for state Highway 112,” DOT said.
One is expected to begin in August at two locations – at milepost 4.6 at Rasmussen Creek and along the Hoko River at milepost 11.4.
At Rasmussen Creek, contractor crews will rebuild and replace two areas of the embankment that had slid into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Work includes placing various rocks and boulders, as well as ditch and culvert cleaning.
At the Hoko River site, crews will repair the eroded riverbank. Work includes layering logs with root wads sticking out into the river and then filling the hole with rocks.
Crews also will perform landscaping work and replace a guardrail.
These sites were damaged during a January storm.
Initially, it was thought that DOT maintenance crews would be able to fix the sites themselves, but further review determined the damage to be much more extensive, requiring an emergency contract, DOT said.
The other project, at three sites further east on state Highway 112 along the Pysht River near milepost 26, is currently in the design phase and is scheduled for construction in 2023.
Maintenance crews performed slope repair in April 2022 to help keep the road open while a permanent fix is created.
