With the help of over $600,000 in state money, the sole access road to Olympic National Park’s popular Hoh Rain Forest will reopen this week after a monthslong closure.
Access on the Upper Hoh Road will be restored midday Thursday, announced Gov. Bob Ferguson. The road was washed out by the bomb cyclone that hit the region last year and has been closed since December.
The rainforest’s reopening comes just as the tourism season heats up.
Usually, the Federal Highway Administration’s Emergency Relief Program would fund repairs to the road. But then-Gov. Jay Inslee didn’t include Jefferson County, where the road is located, in his emergency declaration to unlock aid for the November bomb cyclone. This made accessing federal money difficult.
State and local officials said they didn’t have the money for repairs.
So in March, Ferguson unveiled a plan to spend $623,000 in state reserves to help fix the road, which serves as the gateway to the rainforest that saw nearly 460,000 visitors last year.
“It’s the kind of thing where, if you’re just a Washingtonian, you read an article and think ‘for god’s sake, can’t someone just figure out this bureaucracy and get the road fixed,’” Ferguson said at the time. “Because it’s a lot of money, but it’s not that much money.”
The reserve money, set aside for the governor to help businesses in need, comes from unclaimed lottery winnings. Ferguson also added Jefferson County to Inslee’s emergency declaration, so if federal funding eventually comes through, that money can reimburse the state.
Private donors contributed another $27,000 to augment the state dollars.
Heavy rains elevated the Hoh River, eroding part of the county-maintained road, causing the park to announce the closure Dec. 23. The road is located southeast of Forks, in a remote part of the Olympic Peninsula.
At the time of the closure, the county warned the road was “in imminent danger of failure.” No full-time residents live beyond the washout site.
Jefferson County will celebrate the reopening at noon Thursday, when Ferguson will join local officials for a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“This project represents a true partnership in action,” Jefferson County Public Works Director Monte Reinders said in a press release. “We’re grateful for the support of Governor Ferguson, the private donors, and our hardworking local contractors and crews.”
This story was originally published in the Washington State Standard.
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