The Cotton Building in Port Townsend served as the site for one of nine open-house meetings about Washington State Ferries’ long-range plan, being developed to serve the system through 2040.

However, if locals were unable to attend, an online open house is running through May 24 to present the same information as the in-person meetings.

Port Townsend’s Daniel Milholland offered kudos to WSF for “thinking about the long range” April 19, and was particularly impressed to see it considered factors such as “rising tides, greener ships and alternate modes of transportation.”

Forest Shomer of Port Townsend is no stranger to the state ferry system, having been on the state’s Port Townsend–Coupeville Citizens Advisory Group since 2004, and the Ferry Community Partnership since 2007, which includes participants from Port Townsend, the San Juan Islands, Kingston, Vashon Island and Kitsap County.

Shomer said he was pleased to see WSF moving toward hybrid- and electric-power systems, rather than liquid nitrogen gas, which he sees British Columbia as having invested in to its detriment.

“When you’re thinking about what kind of boats you’re going to have and need in 25 years, hybrid and electric are certainly better than burning diesel, and LNG is likely to be obsolete by then,” Shomer said. “I’m very happy to see the ferries moving toward 21st-century propulsion systems.”

David Woodruff lives close enough to the ferry terminal in Port Townsend to cause him to worry about increased traffic on Water Street, not just as a result of the predicted increase in ferry usage, but also because of more visitors to the city’s downtown in general.

“That could require more signage and lower speed limits,” Woodruff said.

Adrianne Wallihan is still adjusting to Port Townsend, having moved from the Los Angeles area, so she attended the WSF open house to learn more about the ferry system, which is a new wrinkle in transportation options for her.

“I’m still used to the headaches of LA traffic, which I’m so grateful that Port Townsend doesn’t have,” Wallihan said, who echoed Milholland’s and Woodruff’s appreciation for WSF tackling long-range planning in the first place.

Dawn Oakes, who lives “right on North Beach,” said her big concern is with the window of two-ferry service during the year.

“It needs to start much earlier than April 1, because it’s a nightmare to try and get on, whether you’re heading to Coupeville or coming back,” Oakes said. “I have family in Bellingham. It’s hard enough even if you make reservations ahead of time, but if my daughter calls and says she needs help right away, it could be very dicey.”

Brian Wood works as the transportation planner for Island County. He took the time to attend the Port Townsend open house because Coupeville, which is in Island County, is the other end of the Port Townsend–Coupeville ferry connection, so changes to that route affect his job as well.

“I’m curious about the amount of freight traffic that uses this ferry,” Wood said. “When they get off the ferry in Coupeville, rather than taking Highway 20 all the way, they take a shortcut on our county roads to get farther along on Highway 20, and our county roads aren’t designed for heavy traffic like the state roads are.”

Wood questioned the relative lack of traffic growth projected for Whidbey Island, which Coupeville is part of, compared to what is expected for other areas. WSF is currently projecting a 53 percent growth in total ridership of the Port Townsend–Coupeville ferry, from 796,000 total riders in 2017 to 1,220,000 total riders in 2040. By contrast, the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry, which also serves Whidbey Island, is only expected to increase 16 percent, from 4,032,000 total riders in 2017 to 4,677,500 total riders in 2040.

“Are potential riders choosing alternate routes because they expect the Mukilteo-Clinton route will remain full?” Wood asked. “I’m interested in the indicators they’re using to make these predictions.”

The WSF project page can be viewed at:

tinyurl.com/y8uy5jhj.

The online open house for the WSF 2040 long-range plan is at WSFLongRangePlan.com.