Weather pushes back park project completion

King County Parks has halted trail capping work in the Maury Island Natural Area due to extended wet weather conditions.

The project is part of a multi-million dollar, 10-year cleanup of the park that began in August to reverse decades of industrial contamination from Glacier Northwest’s mining operation and the Asarco copper smelter in neighboring Ruston.

Due to the fallout from the smelter plume, the soil in the park is contaminated with arsenic, lead, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). To minimize public exposure to the contaminated soil, county parks is remediating the contaminated soil.

Despite the project setback, all of the trails reportedly have a new layer of gravel and 35 percent of them have received a three-inch layer of soil. County parks expect that the soonest crew can add and compact the final soil layer will occur in mid-February. In the meantime, all trails will be open to the public.

The cleanup action plan includes capping trails and the former skeet shooting range, which will be transformed into a gravel parking lot that will be able to accommodate 20 vehicles and four equestrian trailers. The county will also perform invasive vegetation removal for 5 acres of property next year, and at the request of the public, herbicides will not be used to control regrowth.

All of the work in Phase One is made possible by a Washington State Department of Commerce Grant for $2 million.

For more information please visit the King County Parks project website online.

Road crews finish Dockton Seawall work early

King County Road Services repaired a section of the seawall along Dockton Road SW in November and wrapped up the work a few days ahead of schedule. Every year, Road Services inspects the 103-year-old seawall and identifies areas that need repair.

The first project from the most recent inspection focused on a part of the seawall that runs from Tramp Harbor Road SW to about 1,000 feet south, just north of the Tramp Harbor public dock. This work required a full 24/7 closure of Dockton Road SW.

The road was scheduled to reopen on Wednesday, Nov. 27, but crews completed the work and reopened the road on Friday, Nov. 22. The county plans to make more repairs in a second phase as early as spring 2020. Learn more on the project website online.