The Port of Bremerton is poised
to award a $1.97 million contract to extend
its Cross SKIA Connector Road to Old Clifton Road.
The low bidder for the project WHH Nisqually Federal Services, LLC., a tribally-owned enterprise based in Olympia. The company’s bid came in just under the engineer’s estimate for the work, according to a port staff memo.
The port commission is set to approve the award at its Tuesday meeting. A breakdown of the bid is embedded below.
The port received a $2 million allocation from Puget Sound Regional Council for this phase of the connector road, and budgeted $345,800 of its own cash.
The existing connector road extends south off Highway 3 and runs along the east edge of Bremerton National Airport.
Phase 2.1 will extend the existing connector road by about 3,000 to meet Old Clifton Road (click the inset map to enlarge it). Contractors will also build a roundabout to accomodate future road extensions.
Work is expected to begin in June and be completed within 80 days.
The port considers the connector road critical for encouraging growth in the industrial and aerospace acreage surrounding the airport. You can read its pitch to the Regional Council here (PDF).
The area was previously called South Kitsap Industrial Area (SKIA), but was recently renamed Puget Sound Industrial Center-Bremerton (PSIC-B).
And there you have it, the final nail in the coffin. The end of 55 years of drag racing and other forms of auto sport. Done. All to give a couple of men the inside track (no pun intended) to a new facility built across the street for $30 million. Great deal huh?
With this new section opening up the property, does Kitsap County, Bremerton, or Port Orchard have plans to improve Old Clifton Rd? Will this allow building of pad ready sites on Port of Bremerton (PoB) property along this expanded roadway? Or will it require extensive funding for infrastructure?
As for drag racing on the PoB property, this has been in the works for a number of years, I doubt the PoB has planned this just to benefit a few men. The PoB needs property it can develop and the physical layout limits what goes where. If there is such a great call and need for racing of any type in Kitsap County, then those who support it should have made their play for property and funding for new facilities in an area that can support it for many decades to come.
Roger Gay
South Kitsap