PORT ANGELES — The only office on the North Olympic Peninsula where applications can be made for enhanced driver’s licenses is booked through April 23, the state reported on Wednesday.
New appointments for the Port Angeles licensing office were not being taken on Wednesday.
But more slots might be available within a couple of days, said Brad Benfield, media relations manager for the state Department of Licensing.
The licensing office at Armory Square, 228 W. First St., is the only office in Clallam and Jefferson counties where applications will be taken for enhanced driver’s licenses or enhanced state ID cards.
The card will work like a U.S. passport to re-enter the United States by land or sea from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda or the Caribbean as of today, when stricter requirements go into effect.
To make an appointment for the Port Angeles office, phone 866-520-4365, a number that rings in West Seattle.
“At this point, there’s not much we can do” to increase the number of slots available, Benfield said.
“We’re offering as many appointments in Port Angeles as everywhere else now.”
He added that staff had held some appointment times open in February and March so that they could call back people who had scheduled in April and offer them an earlier date.
“Over the course of the next couple of days, they can try to get appointments,” he said.
No schedule is organized for the period after April 23, he said.
The state department expanded the capacity of the Port Angeles office twice last week — the first week that appointments could be made.
Originally, because of the relatively low populations of Clallam and Jefferson counties, the office was set up to handle about 40 appointments per month, or 120 people total in February, March and April.
That has been expanded to allow the office to process 220 applications, the maximum available at any of the 11 offices designated to handle the enhanced driver’s license, Benfield said.
