PORT ANGELES – Olympic National Park officials announced Wednesday that the final phase of work along one of the most interesting segments of the Olympic Discovery Trail is now complete.

The years-long project to turn the entire 10-mile length of the Spruce Railroad Trail Project on the north shore of Lake Crescent into a universally accessible, multipurpose trail to be shared by hikers, cyclists, horses and wheelchairs is fully open to the public.

The collaborative project between Clallam County and the national park was made possible by millions of dollars in grants from multiple agencies and was completed in several phases.

They include the restoration of the 450-foot long McFee Tunnel and the Daley Rankin Tunnel, rockfall mitigation, retaining wall construction, paving the length of the trail and the Lyre River Trailhead parking area.

The Spruce Railroad Trail follows the historic railroad grade of the Spruce Railroad, built in 1918 to harvest and transport aircraft-quality spruce for biplanes in World War I. The railroad was almost complete in the fall of 1918, but the end of World War I that November meant the end of the operation and no Sitka spruce were ever processed at the local mills for biplanes. The railroad was purchased from the government and utilized as a common-carrier line and logging railroad after the war until it was abandoned in 1951.

Today, the railroad grade is part of Olympic National Park and the Spruce Railroad Trail is a piece of the planned 135-mile long Olympic Discovery Trail which will eventually connect Port Townsend to La Push—Puget Sound to the Pacific Ocean.

Travel Alert: Due to the closure of East Beach Road at Highway 101, access to the Lyre River Trailhead on the eastern end of the Spruce Railroad Trail is currently via Highway 112 to Joyce-Piedmont Road. East Beach Road remains closed for public safety due to debris hazards following the wildland fire on the steep slope above the road this summer.