Summer construction underway, traffic and project updates around Kitsap County

If you've driven almost anywhere in Kitsap County this summer, you've almost certainly driven through construction. Another busy season for road work has touched state highways, country roads and city streets. Here's a quick update on some of the more impactful projects around the area as construction season continues.

Highway 3 at the Chico Way exit

According to WSDOT engineers, the $58 million project to improve salmon migration through Chico Creek is ahead of schedule and on-budget as it nears completion. Engineers expect the project to be completed by late September. The fish window, which specifies dates when construction will least impact fish, ends September 30.

The current phase consists of stream and soil work to excavate the new path that Chico Creek will take under the new bridge and into the estuary. Finally, workers will dam up the box culverts that the creek currently runs through.

Massive excavators were sifting through the soil during a visit this week. Workers have gouged a wide, uniform stream bed that curved next to the bridge. Piles of logs, which had been uprooted during construction, lay about, waiting to be placed in the stream to mimic natural conditions. Huge amounts of earth still need to be moved from beneath the bridge to lower the height of the dirt to the proposed stream bed.

Chico Creek currently is routed parallel to Highway 3 on the west side, running through two eight-foot by eight-foot box culverts. The flow rate through the pipes, lack of oxygen and light all affect the salmon’s ability to migrate through Chico Creek.

In 2013, federal courts ruled that Washington must replace about 800 culverts by 2030 at the cost of about $2.4 billion to improve salmon migration.

Because the creek feeds into a whole host of other upstream creeks by the hills of Silverdale and Seabeck, this one project will open up 21 miles of habitat gains, said WSDOT communication consultant Mark Krulish, making it easily the most impactful salmon project.

The new stream bed has been designed to make sure that the water remains cool, the flow is right, and the environment is as natural as possible. In fact, as the team has excavated, they have hit good stream material, leading them to believe that the creek was flowing in the planned location before it was boxed.

Highway 16, south of Port Orchard at the Purdy exit

A nearly $26 million project to replace two culverts with two 206-foot-long bridges, one over Highway 16 and one over Highway 302, that will remove barriers to fish migration is near a major milestone. The westbound bridge has been completed and will open in mid-August.

In the next few weeks, workers will shift eastbound traffic to the center of the highway to make room for construction of the eastbound bridge. Westbound traffic will commence on the new bridge, about ten feet higher than eastbound traffic. Eastbound traffic will be restricted to 45 mph until the end of the project.

The project is expected to finish in the fall of 2024.

11th Street and Perry Avenue in Bremerton

A major project through the center of the commercial hub of Manette in Bremerton has completed a first layer of paving, on the south side of 11th Street, and the north side is now undergoing excavation.

The city project will completely replace pavement on 11th Street between Pitt and Perry Avenue, which was rebuilt and resurfaced earlier this year. Eleventh Street will also see the addition of ADA compliant curb ramps, five-feet wide bike lanes, trees, raised intersections, wider sidewalks, festival string lights.

Traffic is currently detoured on 11th Street, and parking is restricted. The project is expected to finish this fall, at a cost of $6.6 million.

Clear Creek Road Northwest at Highway 308

Where: Between NW Mountain View Road and Highway 308.

Work to decommission old sewer lines, as part of the Bangor Keyport Forcemain Replacement Project, has created delays and one-lane traffic on weekdays between NW Mountain View Road and Highway 308, which is expected to last through Aug. 18.

Illahee Road, between Oceanview Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue

A water main replacement projec,t conducted by the North Perry Avenue Water District, has closed segments of Illahee Road from drivers going between Bremerton and Brownsville daily between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. The closures will continue through the end of August.

SW Helena Road in South Kitsap

SW Helena is completely closed just east of the intersection with Wicks Lake Road and Sunflower Place for a culvert replacement, and scheduled for interruption through the end of September.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Kitsap summer road construction update