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Contact: Barb Maynes, 360-565-5326
This morning, the National Park Service awarded a contract to repair the Hurricane Ridge Road landslide to Port Angeles contractor Bruch & Bruch Construction Incorporated. Bruch & Bruch employees have already begun to move equipment to the landslide site just north of the Heart O’the Hills entrance station and will begin repair work as soon equipment and materials are in place. At this time, the contractor has been authorized to spend up to $1.4 million to repair the road; the final contract amount will be finalized within several weeks. Federal Highways Administration engineers have estimated the final repair cost to be over $2 million. About 30 workers will be employed by this repair project, all from the Forks, Port Angeles and Sequim area. “We are extremely pleased to have a contract in place so quickly,” said Olympic National Park Superintendent Karen Gustin. “A federal contract of this size usually takes four months to complete – I’m very grateful to both park staff and our Federal Highways partners for their work in making an award in only four days.” The contractor will work twelve hours each day from Monday through Saturday. Preliminary estimates by park and Federal Highways Administration engineers indicate that repairs will take approximately six weeks to complete. “We understand the importance of this road to our region, and restoring access to Hurricane Ridge as quickly as possible continues to be the park’s top priority right now,” said Gustin. “We have looked thoroughly at several options for providing a bypass around the slide, but given the size, schedule, cost and location of this project, an alternative route is simply not feasible.” The contractor will first remove over 2,000 truckloads of the remaining fine-grained fill and build a firm foundation with rock and gravel. A six-foot diameter culvert and additional drainage will be installed and the road rebuilt. The Hurricane Ridge Road is closed about one-half mile north of Heart O’the Hills entrance station. The combination of an active construction zone and unstable slope create an extremely hazardous situation, and public entry, including foot and bicycle access, is prohibited. Local access to Lake Dawn area residences remains open. The road has been closed since Monday when a slope below the roadway slid downhill, taking with it most of both travel lanes along a 100-foot long section of road. The damaged site is just below the Heart O’the Hills entrance station, approximately five miles south of Port Angeles. For information about alternative destinations within Olympic National Park, people may consult the park's website at www.nps.gov/olym or call the Olympic National Park Visitor Center at 360-565-3130. The recorded Road and Weather Hotline is updated throughout the day with changes and can be reached by calling 360-565-3131. |
Last updated: February 28, 2015