PORT ANGELES — If the discovery of Native American remains at the state Department of Transportation’s Hood Canal Bridge graving yard forces the project to be moved, there are few options for relocation.
State officials have not said the project will move.
But they acknowledged earlier this week that they are studying worst-case scenarios if excavation of 183,000 cubic yards of dirt on the 22.4-acre waterfront site can’t be done because of the possibility of more Native American remains buried on the property.Transportation officials and representatives of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe are negotiating a plan to allow the graving yard work to continue while protecting against further disruption of remains or artifacts.
Department of Transportation Communications Director Linda Mullen said the agency does not want to leave Port Angeles, but must look at all possibilities — which includes relocating the graving yard.
She wouldn’t comment on alternative sites, but the Army Corps of Engineers studied potential alternatives before Port Angeles was selected last year.
The graving yard will be used to build pontoons and concrete anchors to replace the eastern half of the 7,869-foot Hood Canal Bridge, linking Jefferson and Kitsap counties, in 2006.
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The rest of the story appears in the Friday/Saturday Peninsula Daily News.