PORT ANGELES — The state Department of Transportation graving yard proposed for 23 waterfront acres is being built for the sole purpose of refurbishing the Hood Canal Bridge, the City Council was told.
What else the facility might be used for is “pure speculation,” said Jerry Moore, project manager from Transportation’s Port Angeles office.
“Can you reassure us we won’t have a 23-acre basketball court?” asked City Councilman Larry Williams.
Moore said the graving yard was just one element of the entire Hood Canal Bridge project, albeit an expensive one.
The project includes building the Port Angeles graving yard — big enough to hold five Navy battleships side by side — then using it to build pontoons and concrete anchors for the eastern half replacement of the 42-year-old Hood Canal Bridge, which links Jefferson and Kitsap counties.
An eight-week closure is planned beginning in May 2006 to install the new portion of the 1.5-mile floating bridge.
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The rest of the story appears in the Thursday Peninsula Daily News.