Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe lays out stormwater, safety and a $2.75 million bridge request

Wendy Clark Gatson, tribal transportation program manager for the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, outlined the tribe's transportation priorities and specific project needs. Gatson highlighted prioritized stormwater retrofit targets (Sacred Dungeness River and others), a desire to implement dual-language tribal signage on Highway 101 and elsewhere, complete-streets and safety improvements in Carlsborg, and opportunities to take surplus mitigation parcels into tribal stewardship.

Gatson described a top-priority infrastructure need: a deteriorating pedestrian/trestle bridge on the Olympic Discovery Trail that carries roughly 335,000 users per year off Highway 101 and has limited appropriate funding sources under existing competitive programs. "We are going to the legislature with an ask for $2,750,000 because this bridge is quickly deteriorating," she said, asking that the commission and partners consider the bridge's unique funding fit and the tribe's interest in preserving historic integrity as part of any replacement.

Gatson also raised technical and administrative barriers tribes face when accepting state or federal funding, such as local-agency forms that do not always align with tribal laws and operations, and said supplemental or negotiated agreements can help bridge those gaps. She invited commissioners to visit tribal facilities and the Peninsula RTPO summit the tribe will host, and noted the tribe's work to integrate multimodal planning with cultural and environmental stewardship.