AGNEW — A row of trees have been removed in preparation of a springtime project that will widen nearly a mile of Old Olympic Highway between Spring and Barr roads.
Clallam County Engineer Ross Tyler with the Clallam County Road Department said the widening and repaving project will begin sometime in March when the weather dries.
“This is the beginning of the reconstruction project from where we left off in 2009 when we did Lewis to Spring Road,” Tyler said.
Jordan Excavating of Port Angeles was awarded the $997,333 contract.
Trees were removed Friday. Electric utilities in the same vicinity will be moved for the project, Tyler said, and some fences will be built on the south side for right-of-way construction.
The road stretch will be widened from the existing 28 feet to 40 feet wide, giving motorists two 12-foot lanes with two 8-foot-wide shoulders.
The existing pavement will be pulverized for removal, and the project should take about two months to complete once it begins, Tyler said.
The next segment of Old Olympic Highway to be widened, likely in 2013, will extend from Barr Road to McDonald Creek Bridge.
Tyler said that project expected to include the replacement of the narrow bridge, which he calls the most seismically “vulnerable” bridges in the county.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.