SEQUIM — Twenty-five years ago, the way people traveled in and around Sequim changed significantly with the opening of the U.S. Highway 101 bypass.
On Aug. 18, 1999, the $18 million, 4.6-mile bypass opened with the intent to ease traffic through the congested city of Sequim.
Current and former business owners recall long lines of vehicles, including semi-trucks along Washington Street, slowly inching from one end of town to the other.
Some said it could take 30 minutes or more to enter and leave the city.
Emily Underwood, co-owner of Over the Fence, 118 E. Washington St., said she’s glad the bypass was put in.
“The alternative would be horrendous,” she said. “There’d be horror stories about trying to go through this little town called ‘See-Quim.’”
Since the bypass opened, the Sequim area has grown significantly with more housing, retail stores and restaurants and has seen a growing interest in activities from lavender to pickleball.
Daily travel data isn’t available from 1998 for the bypass area, according to state Department of Transportation staff. However, the department reported 2023 traffic data that shows a portion of the bypass from River Road to South Sequim Avenue sees about 18,881 vehicle trips a day compared with 15,103 in 2004, while from Sequim Avenue to Simdars Road, there were about 16,083 daily trips compared with 11,192 in 2001.
Available data from just before the installation shows that the Kirk and Kitchen-Dick Road intersection west of the bypass saw about 15,560 vehicles per day in 1998, compared with 21,454 in 2023. East of the bypass by Whitefeather Way, there were 12,947 daily vehicle trips per day in 1998, and 19,244 in 2023.
The bypass was estimated to reduce traffic volume on Washington Street by half, according to a 1993 Sequim Bypass Environmental Impact Statement.
Beginnings
The late Jerry Angiuli told attendees of the bypass ribbon cutting that discussions for it dated as far back as the 1950s.
WSDOT first studied traffic volumes for the area in 1972 and locals proposed a similar layout as downtown Port Angeles with one-way street couplets in the 1980s. After much discussion and debate, couplets were shelved in 1988 when an advisory committee recommended the bypass.
Using funds from a 1991 gas tax increase, monies funded the environmental impact statement to start the project.
The late Bill Littlejohn said in 2009 that WSDOT held three years of public hearings on four proposed routes before deciding on the current one from Simdars Road to River Road.
Permitting was delayed due to legal action in 1997, but it went out to bid in early 1998.
Reactions
Some locals were concerned about the impact on businesses as travelers would no longer have to go through the city.
Kevin Bell, owner of A-1 Auto Parts, 144 W. Washington St., remembers the community tension and being nervous because he had just bought the store in May 1998.
“As it turned out, it was for the better,” he said.
Now the bypass allows for customers to be more intentional coming to his business, rather than being forced to drive by through downtown.
“If (the bypass) didn’t happen, I couldn’t imagine how bad traffic would be now,” Bell said.
Jeri Sanford, original owner of Over the Fence, was also newer to ownership before the bypass went in, and said there was a real fear among the business community but not with her.
“I was of the school of mind that it’ll be great,” she said.
Back then, it was stressful to park and try to get back on the road, she said.
“It worked,” Sanford said. “Within two days, there was a marked difference.
“Our business went up 30 percent overnight. It was a huge success, from my business point of view.”
Over time, she and other business owners said downtown Sequim became more inviting and people were more purposeful coming into town rather than being forced.
“It was just easy to stop, all of a sudden,” Sanford said.
In conjunction with the bypass opening, business owners began promoting a more pedestrian-friendly downtown, which continues in various capacities today.
Underwood started working in her parents’ store in 1996 but recalled hearing things “like the downtown is going to die” from community members.
“The bypass would come in and no one would stop,” she said they would say. “(Visitors would) just drive on by.”
With consistent traffic jams through the downtown core, however, Underwood said people did not want to drive downtown at all.
“I thought that, with the bypass, I wouldn’t miss the big trucks, the noise and the backups,” she said.
Emily Westcott, who owned Red Ranch Inn at 631 W. Washington St., said she wasn’t opposed to the bypass but noted there would be hundreds of cars going by her business every day before and then not after it was built.
“We knew much of our business was going to the (National Park), and now they don’t have to come by,” she said.
She closed the restaurant in 2003 but attributes the closure to increased competition — particularly next to the highway — and slow winter months.
“(The restaurant business) is fun to work in but not fun to own,” Westcott said.
As for the bypass 25 years later, she said “it was a good move.”
“Before the bypass, it’d take half an hour to get through town,” she said.
Wendi Schaumburg, office manager for the Co-Op Farm and Garden, 216 E. Washington St., started as a cashier a few months before the bypass opened and remembers that “people were definitely concerned about business and drive-by traffic.”
While she wasn’t involved in the day-to-day financials at that point, she did notice an initial drop-off in business. But things smoothed out.
“As a resident, I hoped it would help traffic, especially in the summer,” she said.
“It was hard to get one from end of town to the other.”
Now, as a Port Angeles resident, she especially likes it because her commute is low stress and the bypass makes it easy to get to the co-op.
“Before (the bypass), you’d have to go through all the street lights.”
Future
Leading up to the bypass’ installation, more than 160 parcels of land were purchased to make room for the highway addition.
The city of Sequim also refurbished Sequim Avenue, paving the street and installing landscaped medians using a $1.53 million grant. Sequim also took on ownership of Washington Street, as WSDOT formerly maintained it when it was a main thoroughfare.
During the bypass construction, the westbound ramp for the Simdars Road interchange was abandoned due to funding, along with a plan to install a rest stop on a 5- to 8-acre parcel off Washington Harbor Loop.
The Shipley Center, Sequim’s senior center, bid and won on the land in 2010 with the intention to build a new facility. However, following a recent purchase of the former JCPenney building at 651 W. Washington St., center staff plan to sell that land.
Local legislators advocated for years for funding to finish the bypass, and it wasn’t until recent years when it went on a funding plan.
In 2023, it was announced that the U.S. 101 East Sequim Road Project was moved up to receive $2.642 million in the 2023-25 biennium and $26.979 million in the 2025-27 biennium.
Construction would finish the Simdars Road interchange and create frontage roads from Palo Alto Road and Happy Valley Road off the highway.
As Sequim grows, interviewed business leaders recognize there should be continued improvements, such as better sidewalks, cohesiveness between traffic lights and flow on city streets.
Underwood said Sequim’s growth isn’t going to stop or slow down and that there should be continued consideration for pedestrian movement and better transitions between city and county roads.
Bell said he sees how difficult it is for first responders to navigate downtown and he wishes there were quicker access points to the highway throughout the city.
________
Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.
