Leach Creek Culvert Replacement

The cities of University Place and Lakewood designed and constructed a fish friendly replacement of the Leach Creek culvert under Bridgeport Way. The project included survey, design, permitting, construction and traffic control. Design began in the spring of 2002 with implementation occurring from 2005 through 2007.

Leach Creek, a tributary of Chambers Creek, ran through a 60-inch culvert under Bridgeport Way. According to a fishway inspection report prepared by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) this culvert was undersized and needed to be replaced with a stucture that fit the stream width. Specifically, water velocity through the culvert is a barrier to migration for chum, coho, steelhead, and cutthroat. The undersized culvert was replaced with a 30 foot box culvert.

According to a survey performed by WDFW, removing this barrier re-opened 12,248.51 square miles of rearing habitat and 3,642.95 square miles of spawning habitat. The WDFW describes this area as large and quite healthy. The creek is primarily spring water with little variation in temperature or depth. Most of the creek is relatively well shaded and there are no additional barriers. The stream gradient remains below 2% for 2.68 miles above the culvert making the habitat available to all species. The majority of the habitat area is designated as wetlands, wetland buffers, and/or fish and wildlife habitat areas, which will provide habitat protection. The WDFW provided the culvert with a high priority index of 26.74.

The goal of the project is to connect isolated habitat to increase the range and distribution of salmon.



The objective of the project is to increase access to areas blocked by human-caused impediments.