By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – If you were one of the people stuck in that awful traffic backup along First Street in Port Angeles Tuesday afternoon, or if you spent an hour or more waiting for a late-running Clallam Transit bus because of it, you’re probably wondering what happened and why no one saw it coming.
We confirmed that no one from the City of Port Angeles nor from Clallam Transit, let alone your favorite local news outlet, was given a heads-up that a Washington State Dept. of Transportation crew was going to be doing pothole repair work at the east end of town on Highway 101.
We spoke with April Leigh from WSDOT Wednesday, and here’s what she told us.
“So yesterday, our maintenance teams took the right lane at milepost 248, so right there in downtown Port Angeles on US 101. They did that for pavement repair, and we simply didn’t anticipate that there would be that kind of backup as a result of the work. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience that caused. That work is complete. We don’t have any more work scheduled there in the immediate future, and we are also today looking into ways to prevent that from happening again.”
Leigh said there is some additional pavement repair scheduled for this season on Highway 101 between Sequim and Port Angeles, but that WSDOT would be sure to give plenty of advance notice.