PORT ANGELES — Drivers can travel around Lake Crescent on U.S. Highway 101 now but may have to wait for a traffic signal to allow passage on a single lane during the trip to and from the West End.
The highway was reopened at about 8:30 p.m. Friday with one lane of alternating traffic through the area near milepost 229 where rock scaling was done last week.
The situation may stay that way for another couple of weeks, Claudia Bingham Baker, state Department of Transportation communications manager, said Saturday.
A traffic signal directs alternating traffic, she said.
The highway had been closed since Monday to allow workers to clear the slope of boulders.
Drivers were detoured onto state Highway 112.
On Thursday, the section of highway was expected to be reopened by 6 p.m. Friday, a time later extended to 10 p.m. Friday, the park said on its website at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-101delays.
Rock screening was being re-installed, the park website said.
“Crews are working into the evening and will reopen the road as soon as it is safe to do so.”
Slope scaling near milepost 229 originally was scheduled to be done during four-hour delays of the highway that began Sept. 7. But after the first four-hour closure, reports of property damage to vehicles prompted the Federal Highway Administration to completely close the highway during the work.
The federal highway is the primary route for drivers traveling to and from the West End.
The National Park Service and Federal Highway Administration began July 10 a three-year project to rehabilitate 12 miles of U.S. Highway 101 and 4 miles of East Beach Road at Lake Crescent.
