Overview

Our contractor crews installed a new large culvert with a natural creek bed to replace an old culvert that carries Trafton Creek under SR 530 east of Arlington.

Crews spent about four months building a single-lane bypass for vehicles, then digging down about 40 feet to remove the old concrete pipe culvert. A 26-foot diameter corrugated metal pipe was placed. Once the creek bed was finished, Trafton Creek returned to its regular course and the area around it was refilled. Lastly, the road was rebuilt. This project opened about 3.5 miles of habitat upstream for coho salmon, steelhead, sea-run cutthroat trout and bull trout.

This was the last stage of a two-phase project. In summer 2019, crews replaced a culvert for Schoolyard Creek. The old culvert was removed and a larger concrete box culvert with a natural creek bed was installed. This project opened access to about 2.8 miles of previously unreachable habitat for Chinook and coho salmon, steelhead, sea-run cutthroat trout and rainbow trout.

How you benefit

Environmental: This project opened access to an additional total of 6.3 miles of spawning and rearing habitat for migratory and resident fish as well as other marine species in the two creeks.

Funding

This $19.6 million project was paid for through the Connecting Washington program and pre-existing state funds.