What's Happening
In early summer 2017 the multi-year utility relocation work was completed. This allowed for the last phase (Phase B) of construction to start in September 2017. Construction on the site is largely suspended for the winter months. Work will resume in May or June 2018 depending on weather and site conditions. Completion of the final phase is expected by winter of 2018.
RV Associates Inc will perform the following work:
- Excavation and hauling for new stream channel construction
- Bring in logs, brush and boulders use for habitat restoration
- Install log jams and other habitat features
- Access road construction and drainage infrastructure improvements
About the Project
The South Fork Road Floodplain Restoration project currently has a 2,000-foot side channel and a 1,100-foot backwater channel. In addition to building these channels, crews built engineered log jams in the channels, constructed a perimeter access road and planted native plants.
Benefits include
- Flood risk reduction for neighborhoods along the east-side of the Puyallup River.
- Restoration of the floodplain, which allows the river to function more naturally by providing flood storage in a new side channel.
- Provides salmon habitat for spawning during the summer and fall and juvenile salmon rearing during the winter, especially beneficial to endangered Chinook salmon.
The final phase of the project, Phase 2B, will complete the side channel’s second segment (1,300 lineal feet), install engineered log jams and native plants. The downstream end of the side channel will be connected to the Puyallup River, creating a total side channel length of about 4,200 linear feet. The largest side channel restoration project on the Puyallup River to date.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers donated 200 logs from Mud Mountain Dam in 2016. The logs are for engineered log jams in the final phase of the project.