County board okays call for road design

Wahkiakum County commissioners breezed through a short meeting Tuesday, advancing a road project design, discussing dredging and hearing a report on Chamber of Commerce activities.

The board approved an updated call for design proposals for realigning the intersection of SR 4 and East Valley Road in Skamokawa.

East Valley Road currently intersects at an angle, making it hard for vehicles to turn to the right. The new design would call for widening and adjusting the intersection.

County Engineer Paul Lacey commented that large vehicles can't make the right turn. Log trucks, for example, must turn left and then turn around to head west on the highway.

The project would also include paving the road from the highway to the Skamokawa Fire Station.

In response to a question from East Valley resident Marshall Stowe, Public Works Director Chuck Beyer said the work probably wouldn't take place until 2024. Two other projects are set for East Valley, one at the bridge over Wilson Creek and another at the North Fork of Wilson Creek crossing which washed out last winter.

In other business:

--Beyer and Commissioner Dan Cothren reported little progress with the US Army Corps of Engineers in developing plans for beach nourishment on Puget Island just upstream from the ferry landing.

Beyer said he has been occupied with other projects; Cothren said Corps personnel have also been occupied, and word is that there may not be enough material in the channel at the moment to merit dredging.

--Monica Budd, executive director of the Wahkiakum Chamber of Commerce, reported on 2022 activities and described programs underway to support and expand county businesses. See story elsewhere in this issue.