Preliminary plans are nearly complete for the long-awaited reconstruction of the stretch of Cattle Point Road that’s destined to collapse into Haro Strait, according to National Park Superintendent Peter Dederich.

At the Aug. 19 meeting of the County Council, Dederich said a “draft plan” is expected to be ready for release in late October or early November and that it will include a “preferred” long-term solution which reroutes the road far from the edge of the bluff jeopardized by ongoing erosion.

“To get a long-term solution, you have to go up the hill quite a ways,” Dederich said.

Dederich cautioned that the preferred solution will likely move the road further up Mount Finlayson than some may have expected. But with erosion claiming about a foot-and-a-half of the bluff each year, he said that any long-range solution for the road will need to be as far away from its current alignment as possible.

“We have no expectation that (erosion) will stop,” he said. “We’re trying to get a solution that’s as long as possible.”

The public will have 60 days to comment on the draft following its release.