San Juan County Council Member Bob Myhr used a giant pair of scissors to cut a yellow ribbon, ceremonially declaring the rebuilding of Fisherman Bay Road on Lopez complete.

The project took four and a half years from the beginning of public discussions of the project until the formal declaration of completion in mid-October. There were bumps in the road along the way – the toughest was the discovery that the old pavement had been laid over dirt, burned stumps and other detritus that had to be removed and replaced with more than 6,000 tons of gravel.

The scope of the work required that Fisherman Bay Road be closed to normal traffic for nearly six months.

In all, 1.76 miles of Fisherman Bay road was rebuilt and repaved. The project was financed with the assistance of nearly $2 million in Federal and State Grants, including $416,000 in stimulus funds.