Two year ban; bicycling groups not consulted
Photo by Vicki&Chuck Rogers
The Bicycle Alliance of Washington is launching a letter-writing campaign to prevent the Olympic National Park from banning bicycles on Hurricane Ridge Road for the next two years.
You can see from this photo why bicycle riders like to challenge themselves on the 17-mile ride from nearly sea level to the 5,420-foot elevation at the Hurricane Ridge parking lot.
Interim park superintendent Sue McGill has unilaterally decided to ban bicycles from using that road for two years while road repairs are being made to a section of the road. That ban even extends to weekends when road crews will not be working.
Unnecessary
The Alliance says:
“We believe this is an unnecessary exclusion of bicyclists on what is a federally funded road open to all other forms of traffic.”
Apparently the park service has been seeking to repave the road for several years, and Congress recently appropriated $12.7 million recently to get the job done. Citing safety issues, the park superintendent said bikes would be prohibited from the area during the span of the two-year job.
The Bicycle Alliance wants us all to write our congressmen and ask that Superintendent McGill meet directly with BAW and other area bicycling groups “to reach an improved solution.”
Points
BAW considers these key points to raise:
- Hurricane Ridge Road is a popular destination for bicyclists
- Bicyclists who ride this road tend to be very experienced, fit riders
- The road will remain open to all other vehicle traffic
- State, county and city governments in Washington manage to accommodate bicyclists during reconstruction projects without any problems
- No construction work will take place at weekends, but the ban is to remain in place then too
- Olympic National Park did not contact a single bicycle group in its out-reach efforts, even though bicyclists are the most affected users
- Contractors routinely deal with bicyclists on other road projects – this project is no more a safety issue than other road works.
To reach your congressman, go to “Write Your Representative” and insert your zip code. You can also write Senator Patty Murray and Senator Maria Cantwell.
You can email Interim superintendent Sue McGill at sue_mcgill@nps.gov . Snail mail at:
Sue McGill, interim superintendent
Olympic Natoinal Park
600 E. Park Avenue
Port Angeles, WA 98362
Recent storms washed out one lane of Hurricane Ridge Road, shown at Olympic National Park website. The Peninsula Daily News reported on the pending road repairs and bicycle bans in February.
Here's the current view from the Hurricane Ridge webcam.
Also, see “Olympic National Park gets ready to receive visitors” — After storm cleanup is completed, Graves Creek Road will open to foot, stock and bicycle use only on April 25.
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