Ribbon-cutting Ceremony for Cattle Point Road Realignment Project Scheduled for October 15

Here’s a press release from the National Park Service…

A view of the bluff from South Beach – Contributed photo

FRIDAY HARBOR, Washington– More than 14 years of planning, one and half years of design and six months of heavy construction will culminate in a ribbon cutting and celebration of the Cattle Point Road Realignment Project scheduled at 11 a.m., Thursday October 15 at the American Camp visitor center, 4668 Cattle Point Road.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony—which will take place, weather permitting, at the Jackson Scenic Overlook—will include remarks by representatives of the agencies involved in the project, in addition to members of the state’s Congressional delegation, if possible, according to Jerald Weaver, acting park superintendent and Shannon Wilbur, senior project engineer for the San Juan County Public Works department.

Because of limited parking at the overlook, attendees will be shuttled from the American Camp visitor center parking area beginning at 10 a.m. Overflow parking also will be available at the Redoubt parking area, as well as along the Redoubt Road. A reception will follow the ceremony in a pavilion to be erected adjacent to the American Camp visitor center.

For accessibility information and other details contact Mike Vouri, park chief of interpretation, at 360-378-2240, ext. 2227, or park ranger Doug Halsey at ext. 2228.

The project, launched on April 13, relocated 1.27 miles of county road between Pickett’s Lane and the Cattle Point lighthouse to a glacial bench about 300 feet uphill from the old roadbed and about 150 feet below the park’s Mount Finlayson trail overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Strider Construction of Bellingham completed construction of the new road in mid-September and has been heavily involved in re-seeding the roadside as well as beginning to reclaim the old roadbed. San Juan County Public Works chip-sealed and striped the new road, which was opened to the public September 18. The road surface will remain gray in color until it receives another layer of chip rock and is “fog sealed” next spring, Wilbur said. Fog sealing is a process that binds the rock and turns the road black.

The project brings to a close a process that required the cooperation of county, state and federal agencies dating from 2001. Public concerns about ongoing encroachment of the coastal bluff toward Cattle Point Road were first discussed that year when San Juan County held a public scoping meeting in Friday Harbor. In June 2012, San Juan County was awarded $5.5 million (out of a total $42 million awarded that year) for the project by the Federal Lands Access Program.

The Cattle Point Road Realignment partner agencies are: FHWA’s Western Federal Lands Highway Division, San Juan Island National Historical Park, San Juan County Public Works Department and the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

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