Contractors are putting the final touches on two new bridges in
Kitsap County, both of which are expected to improve the local
environment.
A new bridge over the Carpenter
Creek Estuary near Kingston helps to restore the upper salt
marsh.
Photo; Stillwaters Environmental Center
One is a 150-foot bridge that crosses the Carpenter Creek
Estuary on West Kingston Road near Kingston. The other is a 50-foot
bridge that crosses Big Anderson Creek on Seabeck-Holly Road near
Holly.
Among local residents, the Carpenter Creek bridge may best be
known as the bridge that blocked traffic and forced a detour near
Kingston for more than a year — much longer than originally
planned. (Recall reporter Nathan Pilling’s story in the
Kitsap Sun.) While contract issues remain in dispute, the
environmental benefits are clear, according to Joleen Palmer of the
nearby Stillwaters Environmental Center.
The bridge construction will continue beyond the end of the
year, when it was originally scheduled for completion. The new
completion date is listed as March 2018.
“The delay is due to numerous issues and challenges, including
encountering old buried wooden pilings and associated contaminated
material, a revised sanitary sewer design, and labor and materials
shortages, which disrupted the construction schedule,” according to
a
news release from Kitsap County. “The onset of the winter
weather months will also add to the delay as final work on the
project, such as paving, depends on fair weather.”
—–
An old five-foot culvert where Carpenter Creek passes under West
Kingston Road is now down to its last bit of concrete plus a wedge
dirt, with final removal awaiting completion of a new 150-foot-long
bridge.
Only one section of the old
culvert remains on Carpenter Creek after other pieces were pulled
out two weeks ago. // Photo: Sillwaters Environmental
Center
Massive amounts of earthen fill and have been removed since the
project started about six months ago. All that remains is the wedge
of dirt that still supports pipes and utilities, which will be
attached to the bridge during construction. After that, the last
fill material will be removed, leaving a wide-open estuary flowing
under the bridge.
The construction has created some inconvenience for folks in the
Kingston area, but the project promises to enhance salmon migration
in Carpenter Creek, restore tidal function in the estuary and
enhance the salt marsh for a variety of creatures. The creek and/or
the estuary may be used by chum, coho and chinook salmon, along
with steelhead and cutthroat trout.
Stillwaters Environmental Center is coordinating monitoring in
the estuary to measure improvements in the ecosystem. Before and
after elevation measurements will help describe the physical
changes, while biological surveys identify changes in water
quality, vegetation, fish and insect populations, among other
things.
A new bridge takes shape where
West Kingston Road crosses the upper estuary of Carpenter Creek. //
Photo: Kitsap County Public Works
I am particularly interested in how the new bridge will further
improve the function of the estuary, which is the last major
stop-over point for juvenile salmon on their way out of Puget
Sound, according to biologists. The bridge on West Kingston Road is
the second phase of a project that began in 2012, when a small box
culvert was replaced with a 90-foot-long bridge on South Kingston
Road. The first bridge crosses the lower estuary, while the new
bridge crosses the upper estuary.
While my focus has been on life in the estuary, the project goes
beyond the ecosystem, Kitsap County Commissioner Rob Gelder told
Kitsap Sun reporter (now retired) Ed Friedrich in a
story published in March at the beginning of construction.
Here’s what the old culvert
looked like before the recent project began.
Photo: Kitsap County Public Works.
“This isn’t just a culvert-replacement project but a project
that will increase the safety and functionality for drivers and
pedestrians alike,” Rob said. “Road closure is never easy, but I
hope the community will appreciate the improvements when it’s all
complete.”
The work involves widening the travel lanes, adding 5-foot
pedestrian and bike lanes on the north side and a 6-foot paved
shoulder on the south side. In addition, street lighting will be
added.
As of today, the project has fallen behind schedule, according
to Tina Nelson, senior program manager for Kitsap County Public
Works. Tina said she hopes the contractor, Redside Construction of
Bainbridge Island, will catch up enough to allow the road to reopen
by the end of December, as originally scheduled.
Officials will be assessing the situation through the end of
October, she said. If it appears the bridge and roadway won’t be
ready for opening by Dec. 31, then an announcement will be made in
late October or early November. Advance notice is needed because of
school bus routing and scheduling after the new year.
The causes of the delay are many, Tina told me, but it generally
boils down to scheduling of project materials and crews, for which
the contractor is responsible. The contract calls for the work to
be done in a certain number of days, she said, and the contractor
will lose money if the work is not completed on time.
So far, fish passage has not been an issue, although chum salmon
could soon move into the estuary — if they haven’t already — as
they begin their fall migration. If fish try to move upstream
before the channel is reopened, officials with the Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife will help determine the best way to
safely get them upstream.
Much of the $3-million project is funded by the Navy as
mitigation for ecological damage caused by the 2012 renovation of
Pier B at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton.
Folks concerned about wild salmon in North Kitsap are
celebrating the Legislature’s funding of $2.8 million for the
long-awaited bridge at the mouth of Carpenter Creek near
Kingston.
The project has been on and off for a decade, as I explained in
story I wrote for the
Kitsap Sun in December. The lobbying effort by bridge
supporters, including the Kitsap County commissioners, was intense.
That and continued support from Kitsap’s legislators are credited
with getting the bridge funded.
It seems unlikely that bids for the bridge project can be
advertised and contracts approved in time for this summer’s
construction season, given the need to work around salmon
migration. But we’ll wait and see how things are scheduled.
Leaders of the state’s environmental groups were disappointed
that the Legislature failed to raise a tax on toxic chemicals,
which would have set aside $100 million a year for stormwater
projects. Addressing stormwater is considered the top priority for
improving the water quality of Puget Sound and other waterways. Continue reading →
Using federal economic stimulus money, the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration has allocated $4.5 million to the
removal of derelict fishing gear in Puget Sound.
This project and several other stream and estuary restoration
projects in Puget Sound are part of an allocation of $167 million
nationwide for marine and coastal habitats. See
NOAA’s news release for a description of all 50 projects
approved under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Kitsap County did not receive money for a new bridge at the
Carpenter Creek estuary nor for the next phase of the Chico Creek
restoration at Kitsap Golf and Country Club. These were the
submissions that came out of this county. Officials held high hopes
for approval, since the projects were endorsed by the Puget Sound
Partnership and the Governor’s Office — but so were a lot of other
projects.
As it turns out, Washington state will be provided 10 percent of
the total nationwide funding, which leaves little room for
complaint.
Disappointed Kitsap County officials are regrouping to find
another way and other funding to move the two restoration projects
forward. See my story slated for
tomorrow’s Kitsap Sun.
Carpenter Creek has been on one or more priority lists for
years, but the project never seems to get done. In any given year,
either the federal dollars aren’t available or the state match
can’t be found, or both. I can only remind supporters that a new
culvert for Barker Creek in Central Kitsap went through some of the
same gyrations before getting built a year ago.
Puget Sound projects that did get funding appear to be quite
deserving, according to observers who know the details. Those
projects are:
Elwha River Floodplain Restoration, Port
Angeles, $2 million. In conjunction with the Elwha Dam removal,
this project will restore 82 acres of the floodplain of the lower
Elwha River through the removal of dikes and culverts, revegetation
and invasive species control.
Removal of Derelict Fishing Gear in Puget
Sound, $4.5 million. This program will remove more than
200 metric tons of marine debris, including more than 3,000 nets.
It includes the restoration of 600 acres of habitat.
Smuggler’s Slough, Nooksack River Restoration,
Bellingham, $1.7 million. The project will raise a roadway,
reconnect tidal connections and restore eelgrass habitat over 493
acres of Smuggler’s Slough in Lummi Bay. Seven miles of slough
habitat also will be opened.
Qwuloolt Estuary Restoration, Marysville, $2
million. This effort will restore 350 acres of wetland and 16
stream miles to allow the passage of several species of salmon on
the lower Snohomish River and its surrounding tidal floodplain.
Included are the removal of levees, new channel excavation and
planting of vegetation.
Fisher Slough Marsh Restoration, Burlington,
$5.2 million. The project will restore 60 acres of the Skagit River
floodplain by replacing antiquated agricultural floodgates and
restoring 15 miles of high-quality habitat for chum, coho, chinook
and other species.
Hansen Creek Floodplain Restoration, Milltown,
$988,000. Included in this project are an excavation to reconnect
140 acres of forested floodplain habitat with the addition of woody
debris for chum, coho, chinook and other species.
Three months ago, I reported how funding problems were
threatening three important salmon-restoration projects in Kitsap
County. They involved Barker Creek and Chico Creek, both in Central
Kitsap, and Carpenter Creek in North Kitsap. See
May 27 Kitsap Sun.
Now, I am able to report good news on all three fronts.
Final pieces of the funding puzzle for the Barker Creek project
were fitted into place recently, and replacement of the culvert
under Tracyton Boulevard will begin next week. Timing could be
better, as you can read in a
story in today’s Kitsap Sun, but officials say they will do
their best to protect nearby waters during construction. If the $1
million project does not get started now, funding will be lost,
officials say.
A stream-restoration project on Chico Creek, where it flows
through Kitsap Golf and Country Club, got under way recently. See
last week’s story. The project involves carving a new
meandering channel in some places and widening the existing channel
in other places.
The original funding was not enough to redo the entire channel
through the golf course, so the project was broken into two parts
to use the existing funding. The remaining channel work is expected
in 2010.
An ongoing concern is the culvert under Golf Club Road. It is
now considered a third phase of the project, and a feasibility
study will determine whether the culvert should be removed or
whether a cheaper option will work.
Finally, funding for the Carpenter Creek bridge over the
saltwater estuary near Kingston remains a bit on edge, as I
described in the
May 27 piece. State funding is finally in place, but the
matching federal funding has become a bit shaky.
The good news is that all three versions of the federal budget —
the president’s, the House’s and the Senate’s — list the Carpenter
Creek project by name, which means that it is less likely to get
lost in the scramble to allocate money to the Army Corps of
Engineers.
“It looks very promising,” Naomi Maasberg of Cutthroats of
Carpenter Creek told me this morning. “Things can still happen,”
she noted. But, as things look now, construction can be expected
next summer.
