The preliminary design documents and engineer’s estimate for the Towne Road project in Sequim could be ready in about two weeks, assistant county engineer Joe Donisi told the Clallam County commissioners last week.

“So we are hoping for three weeks from yesterday for our next update,” commissioner Mike French said during the Jan. 16 work session.

“I appreciate the transparency,” French said. “I think when we don’t have the information or communication to share, I think that void is sometimes more dangerous than we like to realize.”

Those design documents will be “very preliminary” but they are anticipating being able to maintain the 6-foot footpath, Donisi said. It may vary in width but it will be a 6 feet minimum and the shoulders will be a 2 feet wide minimum and may get wider in some areas, he said. There will be a continuous guardrail, which will determine how much space they have to work with, Donisi said.

The county plans to post a low speed limit on the road, probably 25 mph, which seems appropriate, he said.

At their Dec. 26 meeting, the commissioners unanimously agreed to a resolution to pursue a “hybrid” option — as recommended by county staff based on a community survey — of a two-lane road and adjacent 6-foot-wide pedestrian path, with the goal of completing it by the end of this summer’s construction season.

Donisi said internal review of those preliminary design documents is going to go pretty quickly, although there will be some back and forth with the contractor. Once that is done, the county can call for bids, which he would like to do in probably late February, he said.

“There’s really no big conceptual changes except for the path,” Donisi said. “We will bring it to a work session and call for bids the following Tuesday. The work session should be in late February at best and then a call for bids in late March.”

French said when the county does large projects like this, a lot happens behind the scenes. Right of way agents, people in the Department of Community Development, people in Public Works do a lot of work to make projects move forward that doesn’t necessarily have a public-facing aspect, he said.

“We have heard loud and clear from the community that we want to make sure we are communicating all of those steps,” French said.

“And so I think that’s our goal with this is to be transparent and clear about what’s happening and what work is ongoing.”