Olympic Discovery Trail / Spruce Railroad Trail Clallam County Proposal
Clallam County’s proposal to restore the historic railroad grade at Lake Crescent to full multi-user trail status.
"The only current alternative for road bicyclists to get through the Lake Crescent corridor is to use the dangerous Highway 101 route with its narrow to non-existent shoulders and high traffic volumes. The project would also rectify the severe shortage of all weather ADA accessible trails in the Park which now stands at less than 2 miles by adding 10 miles of new accessible trail to their 612 miles of trail.
"Clallam County has already nearly completed 6.4 miles of this project providing road bicyclists and wheelchair users an 8 foot wide paved trail while allowing equestrians and pedestrians use of a 4 foot wide unpaved natural tread trail that runs parallel to the paved surface. This combined 12 foot wide trail meets the needs of all users in this remote location while minimizing conflicts between user groups. Clallam County would like to complete this project to accomplish the goal of a safe route for all users through the Lake Crescent corridor by upgrading the existing narrow and muddy Spruce Railroad Trail to the same standard of a full 12 foot wide multiuser trail that it has constructed just west of the Spruce Railroad Trail. Clallam County has project funding from RCO to restore the existing Spruce Railroad Trail and reopen the two historic tunnels and it was RCO’s top rated project in the State of Washington in 2008.
"The Park has opened the public comment period for this project and the comment period runs through August 6th. The County has posted a PowerPoint presentation in PDF format (5.6 MB) about the project with a link to the ONP comment section on the County web page at: Spruce Railroad Trail Project - County Proposal and Public Input Access "
Rich James Clallam County Transportation Program Manager 360-417-2290