Twenty-five years ago, the way locals and visitors traveled in and around Sequim changed dramatically with the opening of the Sequim Bypass, US Highway 101.
On August 18, 1999, the $18 million, 7.4-kilometer-long bypass was opened with the intention of relieving traffic through the congested city of Sequim.
Current and former business owners recall long lines of cars, including semi-trucks, slowly moving from one end of town to the other along Washington Street. Some said it could take 30 minutes or more to enter or leave the city.
Emily Underwood, co-owner of Over the Fence, 118 E. Washington St., said she was glad the bypass was built.
“The alternative would be horrific,” she said. “There would be horror stories about trying to get through this little town called ‘See-Quim.'”
Since the bypass opened, the Sequim area has grown significantly, with more homes, retail stores and restaurants, and an increased interest in activities ranging from lavender to pickleball.
According to the Department of Transportation, daily travel data from 1998 is not available for the bypass area. However, they report that traffic data from 2023 shows that a section of the bypass from River Road to South Sequim Avenue has about 18,881 vehicle trips daily, compared to 15,103 in 2004, while from Sequim Avenue to Simdars Road there are about 16,083 trips daily, compared to 11,192 in 2001.
Sequim Gazette file photo/ Gerry and Dorothy Brown of Sequim look down from the River Road bridge onto the new Sequim Bypass to witness the opening of the new road on August 18, 1999. Further down the highway, the Simdars Road intersection remains unfinished 25 years later.
Available data from immediately before installation show that the intersection of Kirk and Kitchen-Dick Road west of the bypass had about 15,560 vehicles per day in 1998, compared to 21,454 in 2023.
East of the Whitefeather Way bypass, there were 12,947 car trips per day in 1998 and 19,244 in 2023.
According to a 1993 environmental impact statement for the Sequim Bypass, the bypass would reduce traffic on Washington Street by an estimated half.
Beginnings
The late Jerry Angiuli told attendees at the grand opening of the bypass that discussions about it dated back to the 1950s.
WSDOT first studied traffic volumes in the area in 1972, and locals proposed a design similar to downtown Port Angeles’s one-way pairing in the 1980s. After much discussion and debate, the pairings were put on hold in 1988 when an advisory committee recommended the bypass.
The environmental impact statement required to launch the project was financed with funds from a gasoline tax increase in 1991.
The late Bill Littlejohn said in 2009 that WSDOT held three years of public hearings on four proposed routes before settling on the current route from Simdars Road to River Road.
Due to legal proceedings, the granting of the permit was delayed in 1997, but the tender was issued in early 1998.
Reactions
Some residents were concerned about the impact the bypass would have on businesses, as travelers would no longer have to drive through the city.
Kevin Bell, owner of A-1 Auto Parts, 144 W. Washington St., remembers the tension in the community and his nervousness because he had only purchased the business in May 1998.
“As it turned out, it was for the better,” he said.
Thanks to the bypass, customers can now get to his store more easily instead of being forced to drive through the city center.
“If it weren’t for the bypass, I can’t imagine how bad the traffic would be now,” Bell said.
Jeri Sanford, Over the Fence’s original owner, also hadn’t owned the business for very long before the bypass was built. She said there was real fear in the business community, but not in hers.
“I thought it was going to be great,” she said.
Back then, it was stressful to park and get back on the road, she said.
“It worked,” Sanford said. “Within two days, there was a noticeable difference.”
“Our sales increased by 30 percent overnight. From my business perspective, this was a huge success.”
She and other business owners said that over time, downtown Sequim has become more inviting, with people coming to town out of desire rather than necessity.
“It was easy to suddenly stop,” Sanford said.
In connection with the opening of the bypass, business owners began to campaign for a more pedestrian-friendly city center, which continues to this day in various forms.
Underwood started working at her parents’ store in 1996, but remembers hearing things from community members like “downtown was dying.”
“If the bypass was built, no one would stop,” she said. “(Visitors would) just keep driving.”
However, due to the constant traffic congestion in the city center, people no longer wanted to drive into the city center at all, Underwood said.
“I thought that with the bypass I wouldn’t miss the big trucks, the noise and the traffic jams,” she said.
Emily Westcott, owner of the Red Ranch Inn at 631 W. Washington Street, said she is not opposed to the bypass, but pointed out that hundreds of cars would pass her business every day before the bypass was built, but not after.
“We knew a lot of our business was coming from the (national park), and now they don’t have to come through,” she said.
She closed the restaurant in 2003, but attributes the closure to increased competition – especially near the highway – and the quiet winter months.
“It’s fun to work in the restaurant business, but it’s not fun to be an owner,” Westcott said.
25 years later, she said of the bypass: “It was a good move.”
“Before the bypass, it would have taken half an hour to get through the city,” she said.
Wendi Schaumburg, office manager at 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 the stores and the traffic driving by.”
Although she was not involved in day-to-day finances at the time, she initially noticed a decline in business, but the situation later calmed down.
“As a local resident, I hoped it would ease traffic, especially in summer,” she said.
“It was difficult to get from one end of the city to the other.”
Now that she lives in Port Angeles, she especially likes it because it’s a stress-free commute and the Co-Op is easily accessible via the bypass.
“Before (the bypass) you had to drive past all the street lights.”
Future
In advance of the construction of the bypass, over 160 plots of land were purchased to make room for the motorway expansion.
The City of Sequim also rehabilitated Sequim Avenue with a $1.53 grant, paving the road and installing greenbelts. Sequim also took over Washington Street, which WSDOT previously owned as a major thoroughfare.
During construction of the bypass, the westbound ramp to the Simdars Road interchange was abandoned for funding reasons, along with plans to build a rest stop on a 5-8 acre site off the Washington Harbor Loop.
The Shipley Center, Sequim’s senior center, bid on and won the property in 2010 with the intent of building a new facility. However, after recently purchasing the former JCPenney building at 651 W. Washington St. for a new center, center officials plan to sell the property.
Local lawmakers had been lobbying for years to finance the completion of the bypass, and it was only in recent years that a financing plan was put in place.
In 2023, it was announced that funding for the US 101 East Sequim Road project was advanced to $2.642 million in the 2023–25 biennium and $26.979 million in the 2025–27 biennium.
The construction would complete the Simdars Road interchange and create access roads from Palo Alto Road and Happy Valley Road.
As Sequim grows, business leaders interviewed recognize that further improvements are needed, such as better sidewalks, consistent traffic lights and better traffic flow on city streets.
Underwood said Sequim’s growth will neither stop nor slow down, and they will need to continue thinking about pedestrian traffic and better transitions between city and county roads.
Bell said he knows how difficult it is for emergency responders to navigate downtown and he wishes there were faster highway access points throughout the city.
