PORT ANGELES — A temporary bridge over Indian Creek has been erected on U.S. Highway 101 near Port Angeles to keep traffic flowing while workers build a 180-foot-long concrete girder bridge, which is intended to improve fish migration in the stream below.
A traffic signal put into place on Friday morning will continue to alternate travelers through the work zone near Herrick Road through late fall, the state Department of Transportation said.
Scarsella Bros. Inc., had been working since Feb. 7 on construction of a temporary bypass road, DOT said.
Work on the $36 million project is expected to wrap up by early spring 2023.
The bridge will replace an outdated culvert under Highway 101. Once complete, the work in the channel will simulate what is found in a natural stream bed, according to DOT.
As a tributary to the Elwha River, Indian Creek is a breeding ground for chinook, sockeye, coho and steelhead salmon, DOT said, but field biologists estimate that, at present, the creek is only 30 percent passable.
This project is intended to restore more than 11 miles in potential habitat for migratory fish.
Since 2013, state work to remove fish passage barriers has focused primarily on Western Washington due to a federal court injunction later upheld by appellate court and the U.S. Supreme Court that the state must increase its efforts to remove fish-blocking culverts. The state had been sued by 21 tribes with treaty-protected fishing rights.
