Towne Road: County begins to deliver

Timeline furnished, website coming soon

County Engineer Donisi and DCD Director Emery gave an update about Towne Road to Administrator Mielke and Commissioners Johnson and French during a 1/16/24 commissioners’ work session.

Clallam County Commissioners Johnson and French listened to county staff explain what progress has been made toward completing Towne Road. A website, where future progress will be posted, is expected to be available soon. The update about Towne Road was very reassuring, here are the highlights:

• After a joint meeting last week, the Army Corps of Engineers approved the County’s plans to finish the project.

• According to the recently completed elevation survey, the roadbed’s settling has been minimal.

• With the elevation survey completed, a report from the project's consultant should be finalized in two weeks.

• The County's review of the consultant's work, to take place in February, is expected to go relatively quickly and the call for bids should take place in early March.

• The trail will have a minimum width of 6 feet and the road shoulders will have a minimum width of 2 feet.

• The road's surface will have a "monograde" sloped in one direction (it will not be "crowned" like a typical road surface).  This will channel surface water away from the river and stormwater remediation features will be needed on only one side of the levee, instead of both.  This design alteration has substantial cost savings.

• The speed for that section of road will be 25mph.

• The county will provide the next Towne Road update in 2-3 weeks.

Opposition to Towne Road has dwindled since last week and was limited to three commenters: One resident, who seemingly thought the trail had always existed and that a new road was being constructed on a trail surface, and a husband and wife who continue to oppose the road’s reopening. They claim that the only access to their property is via Towne Road, and they want the road closed to the public however, county records show that their property is also accessed via Sequim-Dungeness Way and Vincent Van Gogh Place.

Supporters of Towne Road used their allotted three minutes to praise Commissioners Johnson and French for their commitment to transparency and to remind attendees that Towne Road was never meant to close for even one day -- this project wasn’t proposed to construct a trail, the project was intended to relocate a road.

Aside from Towne Road, two residents provided public comment about the process by which Clallam County Conservation District is allegedly violating private property rights when converting open irrigation ditches into piped water sources.