New Culvert for Fish Passage to Close Washington Route For 5 Days
Washington State Department of Transportation officials say that construction to correct barriers to fish passage in Sammamish Creek, north of Redmond, Wash. necessitates closure of State Route 202 north of Northeast 124th Street from 8 p.m. on Aug. 25 through Aug. 30 at noon.
The construction is part of the latest phase of the $6.8 million SR 202 Sammamish Creek Fish Passage Project, targeted to improve fish passage and reconnect waterways. Construction crews have already begun realigning two channels – High School Creek and an unnamed tributary – into one waterway northeast of the SR202/Redmond-Woodinville Road Northeast intersection with Northeast 124th Street.
The unnamed tributary is currently 67% blocked, while the culvert under SSR 202 fully blocks fish movement along High School Creek, state officials have said.
A 2013 federal injunction also directed the Washington State Department of Transportation to speed up efforts to replace fish barriers. Culverts along High School Creek and the unnamed tributary are subject to the federal injunction.
In late August, crews are expected to install a new, 81-foot-by-27-foot three-sided concrete box culvert to channel the combined streams beneath SR 202. Removing the two barriers would open nearly 3.5 miles of native habitat for coho, resident trout, steelhead, sockeye and sea-run cutthroat.
WSDOT officials said the new fish-friendly structures are larger, more resilient to change in the landscape and provide long-term fish passage.
