The most environmentally friendly road

County unwavering in commitment

Clallam County maintains 488 miles of roads.  Of those roads, only one section of one road (about an eighth of one percent of the total roads) has been built with technology to capture rubber tire particulates before they enter our waterways.  While a vast majority of roads in the county were constructed with a crowned surface that channels rainwater to both sides, one segment of roadway in particular has been designed to slope away from the Dungeness River thus capturing and treating all stormwater.  This section of roadway, significantly wider than surrounding rural roads, is the only section of road in the entire county that combines these environmental technologies, and it has been closed to traffic for 19 months.  

The road is Towne Road and today the county showed no sign of shying away from the promise to reopen it this year.

Dungeness Levee Trail Advocates (DLTA) had a strong showing at the commissioners' meeting today, and they even recruited the Sierra Club and a student activist group from the University of Washington to share a presentation.  However, a stronger showing of Towne Road supporters countered them at every turn.  Some participants, new to the discussion, seemed unaware that the Towne Road Levee is not a trail and never has been.  It was evident that a few unaware DLTA supporters had never even seen the project that was always meant to be a road and, according to all Right of Way documents, is still a road that cannot be abandoned without a detailed formal process.

County leaders, faced with an unenviable task of fielding constant and uninformed opposition, remain committed to honoring the previously passed resolution that will see Towne Road reopen to through, two-way traffic this fall.  Supporters of reopening this vital link commend the county for keeping the project on track and for creatively finding a way to provide a connection between two trails that are actually adjacent to the river.  On the current path, the Towne Road Levee will be an accommodation for the entire community.  

Next Monday, March 4th, will be another Towne Road milestone when the
Commissioners are updated by the DCD and Road Department during the weekly work
session which begins at 9:00 am.