QUILCENE — Four alternatives to repair Dosewallips Road are being examined and a preliminary Environmental Impact Statement has nearly been drafted, Dean Yoshina, U.S. Forest Service Hood Canal district ranger, told about 20 people on Wednesday.
About 300 feet of Dosewallips Road — which was a major automobile route into the Olympic National Park in the northeast corner of the North Olympic Peninsula — washed out at Milepost 10 in January 2002. The washout has since grown to between 600 and 700 feet.
Environmental groups have argued that rebuilding the road would damage the environment.
Yoshina, who’s held the ranking regional ranger position for 1 1/2 years, explained the four alternatives at a Quilcene-Brinnon Chamber of Commerce meeting.
He said that, ideally, vehicles will have access to the state park in two years, if plans are not met with litigation.
Alternatives for road
* The first alternative, Yoshina explained, is no action, which would leave the road washed out and vehicle access crippled.
All other alternatives entail a rebuilding of the washed-out portion of the road, which is about 10 miles in from U.S. Highway 101 down Dosewallips Road.
* Rerouting is one alternative, using 10 percent max grade.
It would use standard road construction, such as balancing cuts and fills.
About seven acres would have to be cleared, and the estimated cost would be $750,000.
* Another alternative involves rerouting the road, also using 10 percent max grade, but with construction techniques such as retaining walls and reinforced fills.
About six acres would need to be cleared.
The estimated cost would be $2.4 million.
* Building a bridge over the washed-out parts of the road is the final alternative.
This is designated to minimize terrestrial impacts by avoiding clearing associated with reroute road construction.
It would also reduce aquatic impacts by allowing river access to high bank and corresponding spawning gravel recruitment.
It would be a 600-foot-long single-lane bridge with three intermediate piers.
The estimated cost would be $2.1 million.