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Parking plan for Hood Canal Bridge closure draws fire 10/28/02
But Kitsap County officials expressed some dissatisfaction with the plan at the public hearing before Deputy Hearing Examiner Mark Hurdelbrink. "The runoff from the gravel could compromise the water quality of the area (on Port Gamble Bay)," said Renee Beam, shoreline administrator for Kitsap County. A suggested temporary solution would be to place a compost filter berm around the site during the closure. But if the gravel stays after the closure, the county would want permanent storm water quality management, Beam said. Hurdelbrink will decide in about two weeks whether to OK the gravel proposal. The state is planning to use up to four foot ferries to move people from Port Gamble to South Point during the 2006 bridge closure at an estimated cost of $6.5 million, said John Callahan, assistant project engineer for the Transportation Department. The temporary park-and-ride lot will be for the use of foot-ferry passengers during the closure, which is necessary to retrofit and replace the east side of the Hood Canal Bridge, at a cost of $205 million. The temporary park-and-ride lot would have space for 1,500 vehicles, including vanpools. Transit would be available as well. There also will be wait stations, portable restrooms and a temporary 8-foot-wide trussel, ramp, float and barge for the ferries. Callahan said up to 20 acres may be leased from Olympic Resources Management during the eight-week closure of the floating bridge's east span. Work on the old Port Gamble sawmill will begin in 2005. |