(L-R) San Juan Council Members Rich Peterson, Howie Rosenfeld, Bob Myhr (with scissors) Gene Knapp (2nd row) Richard Fralick and Lovel Pratt ceremonially reopen Fisherman Bay Road.

San Juan County Council Member Bob Myhr used a giant pair of scissors on Oct. 19 to cut a yellow ribbon, ceremonially declaring the rebuilding of Fisherman Bay Road complete. According to Dan Vekved, lead engineer for the Fisherman Bay road project, the road will take two layers of chip seal.

“For a new road like this one, we do two layers of chip sealing. We did the first one in September of this year, and then next summer we’ll come back in and do a finish layer.”

The chip seal work is being done by Ramo Construction from Arlington, Wash. and this was stimulus money acquired from the federal government. The county obtained 416,000.00 for chip sealing and for fencing replacement along the road where people’s fencing was torn down during construction.

The road is a good all-weather road, and the extra rock will improve the drainage. Four foot shoulders were added on either side on the main travelled roadway and a pedestrian path down to the village was added as well made from pervious concrete, which lets water run through it. This will cut down on slick walkways during freezing weather.

The construction project had good weather, and, according to Vekved, the contractor, Island Excavating from Orcas Island, who did the road construction, has been great to work with. The utilities groups have been responsive, and property owners have been understanding.

The project took 4-1/2 years from the beginning of public discussions of the project until the formal declaration of completion today. There were bumps in the road along the way – the toughest was the discovery that the old pavement had been laid over dirt, burned stumps and other detritus that had to be removed and replaced with more than 6,000 tons of gravel.

“We did have to barge in more rock. If the underlying soil is too soft, the road will suffer for it. We found soft clay as well and that needed to be cleaned up. Structurally, it’s just not strong enough,” Vekved commented.

The scope of the work required that Fisherman Bay Road be closed to normal traffic for nearly six months.

In all, 1.76 miles of Fisherman Bay road was rebuilt and repaved. The project was financed with the assistance of nearly $2 million in Federal and State Grants, including $416,000 in stimulus funds.