— from Shannon Wilbur for San Juan County Public Works —
San Juan County Public Works is pleased to announce that Razz Construction has been awarded the contract for construction of the Orcas Road Improvements Project, and KBA will provide inspection services.
Construction is slated to begin in mid to late March with the improved road to be chip sealed by August 2019.
Once construction begins, weekly newsletters will be posted.
The project provides for the improvement of 1.1 miles of Orcas Road from just south of Nordstrom Lane to north of McNallie Lane. Safety enhancements include the addition of road shoulders, improved curves at the intersections, increased slight distance for the entire road length, and stormwater improvements.
Dear Public Works: I certainly hope there will be a “bike lane” on one side or other. Even though it will only extend that 1.1 mile, it’s a start. Much effort was expended a few years ago to plan a bikeway from the Landing to Eastsound, and/or other smaller projects in the Hamlets. Let’s look to the future when we will be happy the visitors “leave the car at home”. With the existing roadways and ditches, many stretches of bikeway would have to be easements across private property, but in this case, could be built into the new roadway.
There will be a four-foot striped paved shoulder on each side. Here’s what’s not in the current plan: It should be signed and stenciled “Bike Lane”. It should also extend all the way to the 90-degree turn before the dump. It’s only 600 feet further than the current design!
Otherwise, it’s just more of the disconnected patchwork of narrow, dangerous road that frustrates most all the drivers, cyclists and pedestrians