Why Pierce County maintains the road
Crystal Mountain Boulevard is owned by the United States Forest Service (USFS) and maintained by Pierce County under a Forest Highway Cooperative Agreement signed in 1961. This agreement specifies that Pierce County will maintain the road under USFS direction until such a time that the ownership of the road will be transferred to Pierce County. Current efforts are underway to secure ownership through a permanent easement which will allow for better rehabilitative and reconstructive grant eligibility.
A higher than average maintenance cost
Since assuming maintenance and operating responsibilities for Crystal Mountain Boulevard, Pierce County has conducted maintenance activities such as chipsealing, prelevel patching, numerous pothole repairs, vegetation control, guardrail repairs, culvert and ditch cleaning, rock and mudslide removal, and pavement markings. These maintenance needs while similar to other rural roads in the county are more expensive to conduct at Crystal Mountain Boulevard.
From 2002 to 2005, Pierce County spent an average of $17,500 per lane mile on Crystal Mountain Boulevard. In comparison, the average costs for a rural collector in greater Pierce County are between $3,000 and $4,000 per lane mile. Crystal Mountain Boulevard is not only remote, it has:
- a much higher than average volume of guardrail per lineal foot of road,
- snow and ice removal performed under contract,
- an altitude 3,000 ft higher than most of the Pierce County road inventory, and
- a remote location in the northeastern most corner of the county that requires a huge amount of travel time to transport labor, equipment and materials to and away from the site.
