In February, Rep. Tharinger moved forward with his plan to seek legislative approval to allow up to $1,000,000 of unused funds from an earlier legislative authorization to be used for the trail.  However, in February the County decided not to seek Federal Lands Access Program (FLAP) funds for the trail, notwithstanding strong Olympic National Park support for a County FLAP application.    

Tharinger's Proposed Funding Legislation Moves Forward

On February 24, 2016, Representatives Tharinger and DeBolt released their 2016 Supplemental Capital Budget Proposal, PSHB 2380.  The Bill included the following section:

Note that the Tharinger/DeBolt legislation would allow use of the funds for "planning, acquisition, and development" of the trail.  Thus, if the costs of planning -- including administration -- were $85,000, and the costs of acquisition were $400,000, the remaining $515,000 could be used for trail development including construction of the initial phases.  And note that the proposed legislation would permit use of the funds "without requiring matching resources."  This meant that if planning and property acquisition costs were -- say -- $500,000, up to an additional $500,000 could be used for trail development.  And it meant that the Jefferson County would not need to provide any matching funds in order to use the funds.   

Good.

A Proposed FLAP Funding Request Is Not Made

But, not so good: in February the County decided not to seek Federal Lands Access Program (FLAP) funds for the trail planning project, notwithstanding strong Olympic National Park support for a County application. 

FLAP, http://flh.fhwa.dot.gov/programs/flap/, is one of the Federal Lands and Tribal Transportation Programs (FLTTP).  FLAP was established in 23 U.S.C. 204 to improve "federal lands access transportation facilities" that provide access to, are adjacent to, or are located within Federal lands. The words “federal lands access transportation facility” mean a “public highway, road, bridge, trail, or transit system that is located on, is adjacent to, or provides access to Federal lands for which title or maintenance responsibility is vested in a State, county, town, township, tribal, municipal, or local government.” 

Funds made available under FLAP must be used by the Secretary of Transportation and the Secretary of the appropriate Federal land management agency (in this case, I believe, the National Park Service, as a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Interior) to pay the cost of, among other things, planning, research, and construction of transportation facilities that provide access to Federal land for pedestrians and bicycles.  

FLAP requires each state to create a Programming Decisions Committee (PDC) composed of a representative of the FHWA, a representative of the State DOT, and a representative of the appropriate political subdivisions of the State. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/map21/factsheets/flap.cfm. This committee makes “programming decisions” for FLAP funds – which, I think, simply means where to spend the money.    The committee must give preference to projects that provide access to, are adjacent to, or are located within high-use Federal recreation sites or Federal economic generators, as identified by the Federal Land Management Agencies (FLMAs).  The Olympic National Park is a high-use federal recreation site. 

The program is administered by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/map21/factsheets/flap.cfm. George Fekaris is a FHWA Transportation Planner for this region.

As I understood it from Mr. Fekaris, to secure FLAP funding the single most important thing for an applicant to do is to get the FLMAs — in this case, the Olympic National Park Superintendent and Service Director —  to strongly support the proposed FLAP project.

The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail (PNNST, or, sometimes, PNT) — the newest trail in the National Scenic Trails system — connects Glacier National Park in the east to Olympic National Park in the west.  The PNNST accesses the Olympic National Park on the east end of the Park.  Currently, the access is via SR-20, which means that PNNST hikers who are trying to get to the park must hike down the extremely dangerous stretch of SR-20 from Four Corners Road to US-101, then cross 101 to begin their ascent into the Park.  Access is extraordinarily dangerous for  PNNST hikers and other non-motorized users trying to get to the Park.  The ODT-Eaglemount Trail would bypass that dangerous stretch of highway and provide safe access for hikers and others going to and from the east end of Olympic National Park.

Because FLAP seemed to be the perfect resource for improving access to the Park, I contacted Lisa Turecek, chief of facility management at Olympic National Park, and inquired whether the Park Superintendent and her team would rank the ODT-Eaglemount route planning project as a #1 priority.  If so, I would work with the County and try to get a funding application prepared for The Park's review, in time for the March 4th application deadline.  Ms. Turecek's response was positive; on February 23rd she wrote:

I wanted to pass on to you that this project will be Olympic National Park's #1 Priority for Planning projects. We rank construction projects over planning, but of the planning projects submitted, this is our highest priority. Of the six projects submitted, it was our 4th priority overall. We have conveyed our priorities to the FLAP selection committee as well. I'd encourage you to continue with the application process as the planning priority and size of this request still make selection a good possiblity. Please contact me if you have any further questions.  

I immediately contacted the County Public Works Department and proposed, if the County was willing to apply for FLAP funding, to do the necessary work to prepare the County’s FLAP application.  On February 24th, I received this response: 

When the ODT was put on the TIP, Public Works/County made it clear that while it supports the concept of the Trail and its future development, this project should not pull staff and resources away from other high priority transportation needs/projects.  There are many high priority needs and not all can be addressed in the next 6 years.

 

The County has put significant resources into developing and submitting three FLAP applications that are for high priority transportation needs – repairing failing existing County roads that access federal land of the USFS and ONP (not to mention people’s homes).  Two of those projects are also coincident with the Pacific NW Trail.  Each of the 3 applications has broad support from a number of federal and non-federal stakeholders.  We cannot be sending conflicting messages about our priorities to the Park, George Fekaris, and our legislators.  Public Works had reservations about even submitting 3 applications due to the dilution effect this has on focusing support on the highest priority, but the needs were so critical at these 3 sites that we went ahead with it.  

 

Our Board has been briefed on these priority projects and has approved the applications as required by this process.  We do not have the resources at this time to put into developing a last-minute 4^th application that will compete for support with these higher priority needs.

 

I considered sending a response to Public Works but decided not to, believing there was no chance I could cause the department to change its position. 

So, there will be no FLAP application for the ODT-Eaglemount project for at least two years.  The Program's tentative next call for projects is November 1, 2018.  https://flh.fhwa.dot.gov/programs/flap/