DESCRIPTION
Pierce County Public Works and Utilities intends to conduct a Feasibility Study of two fish passage barriers (Pierce County & WSDOT) on Purdy Creek and the restoration of a historic arm of Burley Lagoon located near Purdy in South Puget Sound. The County barrier at 144th ST NW is located within the historic tidal prism and consists of two 48 in. X 160 ft. long CMP's connected to a 5 ft. x 160 ft. concrete box culvert with a gas station built over it. The WSDOT barrier is a 6 ft. X 70 ft. concrete box culvert located downstream under SR 302 and built on fill in an embayment on the eastside of Burley Lagoon.The Feasibility Study will define and model the expected physical & ecological outcomes with increased tidal inundation for different size openings at SR 302 and will assess two Pierce County alternatives: 1) a reroute around a gas station and 2) the purchase and removal of the station & associated fill, and the restoration of the historic tidal channel area. Evaluation of acquisition and contamination issues will also be a focus of the assessment. This information will help WSDOT and Pierce County select preferred alternatives for their respective projects to restore fish passage and estuary habitat. Purdy Creek contains Chinook habitat (WDFW 2013; Salmonscape 2014), winter steelhead, Coho, fall chum and coastal cutthroat. The WSDOT barrier has a Priority Index (PI) of 29.9 and the County barrier has a PI of 32.39.
On December 09, 2015, Pierce County Surface Water Management received a grant from the Surf Board to complete a feasibility study on the lower Purdy Creek at 144th Street NW and SR 302 crossing barriers as outlined in the project agreement. Pierce County in cooperation with WSDOT selected GeoEngineers to complete the study. GeoEngineers came up with several alternatives. These alternative were discussed with stake holders to narrow down the most and best options. Then a public meeting was held in February 2018, to discuss the various alternative and get feedback from the public. GeoEngineers drafted the final study draft and it was sent to RCO and WSDOT for final review, Both RCO and WSDOT accepted the final draft and Pierce County informed GeoEngineers that the final draft is acceptable and the contract agreement with them is completed.
