Ineffective, blocked, obsolete, and in disrepair—Washington is full of culverts that pose an impediment to the survival of salmon. A court decision should have fixed the problem, but the state's budget has a long way to go to clean up the mess.
An article by KUOW takes a closer look at the engineering of culverts (i.e., the "metal pipes or concrete boxes that carry streams beneath the roadbed") in the Pacific Northwest—the source of perhaps a surprising amount of controversy after lawsuits and a historic court decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The article takes a tour of the Skagit River Valley in Washington with Steve Hinton, director of habitat restoration for the Swinomish Tribal Community and the Sauk-Suiattle Tribe. Examples of problematic culverts include those that are too small, "constricting the creek and making the current too fast for a fish to swim against," others that are "filled with sediment, leaving no room for fish," and some that have eroded, leaving "a lip of concrete that looks like a knife’s edge almost — a broken knife’s edge."
In total, according to the article, there are "between 30,000 and 40,000 culverts in the state of Washington that block fish as they try to get upstream." The state is responsible for 2,000 of that total.
"In his proposed budget, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee included about $700 million for culvert repair over the next 16 years," according to the article, but tribal and wildlife advocates say that's far from enough. Dean Moon, the fish passage manager for the Washington Department of Transportation, is quoted in the article saying that will correct about 170 culverts. "The state would need to repair three times that many culverts in order to give salmon access to 90 percent of the upstream habitat that’s currently blocked," adds the article.
FULL STORY: Making Sure Salmon Can Cross (Under) The Roads In Washington
Oregon Passes Exemption to Urban Growth Boundary
Cities have a one-time chance to acquire new land for development in a bid to increase housing supply and affordability.
Where Urban Design Is Headed in 2024
A forecast of likely trends in urban design and architecture.
Savannah: A City of Planning Contrasts
From a human-scales, plaza-anchored grid to suburban sprawl, the oldest planned city in the United States has seen wildly different development patterns.
Washington Tribes Receive Resilience Funding
The 28 grants support projects including relocation efforts as coastal communities face the growing impacts of climate change.
Adaptive Reuse Bills Introduced in California Assembly
The legislation would expand eligibility for economic incentives and let cities loosen regulations to allow for more building conversions.
LA's Top Parks, Ranked
TimeOut just released its list of the top 26 parks in the L.A. area, which is home to some of the best green spaces around.
City of Rochester
Boston Harbor Now
City of Bellevue
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.