By Pepper Fisher

PORT ANGELES – Port Angeles residents who regularly use Race Street to get to and from areas south of Lauridsen Boulevard will have to continue using an inconvenient detour for another month or so.

After a water main broke in mid-February, the City found that erosion had severely compromised the roadbed under Race Street and were forced to close it between Park Avenue and Lauridsen.

“You know, sometimes that water boils straight up out of the ground and other times I can really wreak some havoc underneath the road.”

That’s Director of Public Works Thomas Hunter, who says the severity of the damage means the repair work will be done by a contractor. They’ve opened up the bidding process until next Monday for this and other paving projects to be done all at once.

On March 16^, the lowest bid will go to City Council for award consideration, and then Hunter expects them to get right to work with the goal of having it completed by the end of the month.

“That is correct. Our plan right now; the soonest that we can get those bids back to Council is the 16th, and we will be working closely with whoever comes in as the lowest bid to ensure that we’re doing everything we can to get that road reopened and make sure that we’re getting a good finished product and that we’ve hit all the right steps along the way.”

(Public Works graphic shows detour around the closure.)