Leland Creek culvert project begins Friday

Replacement to disrupt traffic for months

QUILCENE — Quilcene-area drivers will be inconvenienced during much of the year beginning Friday as the state Department of Transportation installs a bridge on U.S. Highway 101 and replaces two box culverts to improve fish passage in Leland Creek and two unnamed tributaries.

The work to replace three culverts with a bridge and two box culverts will be near Leland Valley Cut-Off Road about five miles north of Quilcene.

The $12.8 million project begins Friday when a construction crew will erect a temporary signal and build a two-lane bypass around the construction site on Highway 101 just north of Rice Lake Road, according to a press release from the state Department of Transportation.

Once the signal is in place in mid-February, it will control around-the-clock one-way alternating traffic, the release said.

The bypass likely will open around mid-March, and once that is in place, traffic will move onto the bypass while remaining one-way alternating, controlled by the signal, according to the release. It will remain in place for an estimated four to six months.

The new girder bridge at Leland Creek (milepost 292.5) is scheduled to be complete in July just as the fish window opens. Then the Highway 101 closures at the unnamed north and south tributaries will occur for three to four weeks between mid-July and Aug. 19.

At the north tributary (milepost 290.3), the contractor will remove two existing 40-foot-long by 6-foot-wide cement concrete box culverts and replace them with a single fish-passable cement concrete box culvert measuring 64 feet by 18 feet.

At the south tributary (291.8), the existing culvert pipe will be replaced with a fish-passable cement concrete box culvert.

During this time, traffic will detour around the work site via Center Road and state Highway 104 to continue north on U.S. 101.

During culvert replacement, all traffic will detour with reduced speeds around the construction site via Center Drive (beginning at Bowen Street) and Highway 104 to continue north on Highway 101.

Freight haulers will need to detour via Highway 101, state Highway 3 and Highway 104 due to weight restrictions on the Little Quilcene Bridge.

Tractor-trailers with three axles or fewer over 23 tons will need to follow the detour route. Commercial freight haulers with up to seven axles over 36 tons also will be directed to follow the detour route.

Closure dates will be announced once they are available.

The new bridge at Leland Creek will open 14 miles of upstream habitat to improve fish migration. The new box culverts at the north and southern tributaries will produce nearly 4 miles of upstream habitat.

The construction is part of DOT’s program to remove barriers to fish under state highways due to a federal injunction that affects an estimated 1,000 fish passage barriers.

One hundred barriers have been replaced with another 400 expected by 2030.

________

Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached by email at brian.gawley@peninsuladailynews.com.

More in News

Clallam first in state to implement jail healthcare program

County eligible to apply for Medicare reimbursement for services

Writers to converge in Port Townsend to work on craft

Free readings open to the public next week

Firefighters extinguish blaze in fifth-floor hotel room

Firefighters from East Jefferson Fire Rescue and Navy Region… Continue reading

Mowing operation scheduled along Lake Crescent on Tuesday

Work crews from the state Department of Transportation will… Continue reading

EYE ON THE PENINSULA: County commissioners set to meet next week

Meetings across the North Olympic Peninsula

Peninsula Behavioral Health head discusses the fallout from federal bill

Anticipated cuts to Medicaid could devastate rural communities like Clallam County, leading… Continue reading

Tool library to open in Port Townsend

Drills, saws and more available to borrow

Fire restriction implemented on federal lands

Olympic National Forest and Olympic National Park have restricted campfires… Continue reading

Interdependence Day celebration set for Sunday

Chimacum will host its 14th Interdependence Day celebration on Sunday.… Continue reading

Matthew P. Deines, Outgoing President/CEO, First Fed
First Fed CEO resigns

Bank begins search for replacement

PAHS class of 1975 reunion planned

The Port Angeles High School Class of 1975 is… Continue reading