Community Meeting Recap | Bayhead Creek culvert repair project on Killebrew Lake Rd

San Juan County held a community meeting on Orcas Island and online January 9, 2025, to discuss the replacement of the culvert on Bayhead Creek under Killebrew Lake Road. Approximately 40 community members joined the meeting where County staff provided an update on the current status of the project, next steps, and answered questions from the community.  

Project Background 

A storm in February of 2020 overwhelmed the culvert on Bayhead Creek under Killebrew Lake Road, causing it to collapse and catastrophically damage the road. In an effort to reopen the road as quickly as possible, Public Works installed a temporary 24-inch culvert under the condition from the State that the County would design and replace it with a more permanent, fish-passable culvert in the future.  

The County then successfully applied for FEMA funding to assist with project costs up to $1.59M.  These FEMA funds expire in April 2026, and so the County is advancing plans to satisfy state requirements and install a 12-foot-wide box culvert this summer. This once-in-a-generation infrastructure improvement will help ensure safe passage of flood waters and debris, as well as meet fish passage requirements in Bayhead Creek. 

Community Meeting Update  

The project team used public feedback from previous meetings to develop new approaches to the project. The two new construction designs significantly reduce the construction window from what was proposed in 2023.  

• Option A reduces the construction window by 50% (3 months to 45 days) and reduces the road closure by 90% (90 days to 9 days) 
• Option B reduces the construction window by 40% (3 months to 50-55 days) and installs a single-lane bypass during construction (acknowledging brief road closures of 1-3 days may be required for installation and removal of bypass) 

Frequently asked questions from the meeting include….  

What are the two design options? How will the County decide which design is chosen?  

The original design proposed in 2023 included a 3-month (Jun-Sept) closure during construction. During the January 2025 community meeting, staff presented two design alternatives:  

• Updated Design A – Full Closure: This design includes a 45-day construction window with a maximum of 9 consecutive closure days utilizing the Dolphin Bay Road detour. This design requires occasional single-lane access. 
• Updated Design B – Bypass: This design includes a 50- to 55-day construction window with approximately 45 days as single-lane bypass. It will still require some brief closures of the road as the bypass is installed and modified during construction, during which time Dolphin Bay Rd remains the detour route. This design is estimated to cost approximately 45% more than the full closure option in Design A. 

NOTE:  Neither option is exclusive of the other; that is, Design A (Full Closure) will still require brief single-lane bypass when the road is open during construction, and Design B (single-lane bypass) will still occasionally have short-duration full-road closures (hours to 1-3 days). 

In both designs, the County is prepared to offer incentives for early completion of the project and penalties for delays. 

The two designs will be submitted in the bid packet for contractors and, depending on the received bids, the County will award the contract based on cost, acknowledging the community’s preference for Design B (single-lane bypass) should it be within the budget.

How will this project accommodate safety concerns and the access of emergency services?   

Safety will remain a top priority throughout the duration of this project. The County is working closely with partner agencies, including emergency services staff to ensure access, stage medical personnel on either side of the project, and establish an alternate helicopter pad for medevac services. The team will continue to work closely with Orcas Island Fire & Rescue to develop appropriate safety measures. Coordination is also underway with the school district to accommodate student transportation needs.   

What updates are being made to Dolphin Bay Road?  

To further address resident safety concerns, Dolphin Bay Road will become a safety corridor during the construction window with additional signage, reduced speeds, and construction traffic restrictions. Public Works also plans to grade the road and fix any potholes in advance of construction.  

In its current condition, Dolphin Bay Road is not ready to be paved. In order to meet County standards of line-of-sight and lane width, the County needs to acquire additional right-of-way from neighboring property owners. There is not currently a consensus among landowners to dedicate the right-of-way to the public road.  

Why do we need to install a 12-foot culvert? Isn’t the 2-foot culvert sufficient?  

After the road washed out in 2020, San Juan County Public Works responded immediately and, in an effort to reopen the road as quickly as possible, was granted permission to use an available 24-inch culvert under the condition the County would design and install a more permanent, fish-passable, and storm-ready culvert.  In other words, the current culvert was always understood to be temporary. 

As evidenced by the road being overtopped by floodwater again in 2021, the current culvert width is not hydraulically sufficient with high levels of debris flow, putting the culvert and road at risk during a future flood event.   

Site conditions including weak underlying soils, steep channel slope, the culvert’s depth below the road, stream hydraulics, and fish passage criteria all impact the size and type of culvert proposed.  

What do fish have to do with this project?  

The County is bound by Washington Administrative Codes (WAC) from the state to replace the culvert. These codes (WAC 220-660-190(3)(a), WAC 220-660-190(8)(a and b), and WAC 220-660-050(4)(e)) outline the requirements for emergency culvert replacements and provisions for fish-passable infrastructure. 

There are multiple sources confirming the historical presence of Coastal Cutthroat Trout (CCT) in this watershed, including SeaDoc Society and WDFW (SalmonScape).  DNR’s water-typing map also shows the fish-bearing status of this stream system is quite extensive upstream of the culvert, supporting numerous observations that rate this habitat highly for native fish. 

In June 2023, biologists from WDFW photographed fish in the stream below the culvert, adding to the multiple longstanding sources confirming the historical presence of native fish.   

It’s important to note that seasonality of streams does not indicate fish presence or absence. In other words, a stream that is seasonally dry or has barriers during periods of lower flow does not mean it is not critical for fish. Coastal Cutthroat Trout and other native species are known to migrate between permanent refuges using seasonal streams.

When will construction take place?  

This type of project typically requires dry weather to be completed efficiently. At the same time, the County wants to be mindful that the driest months of the year, July and August, are also our busiest in terms of traffic. As such, the County has identified two shoulder-season windows for starting construction: shortly after Memorial Day Weekend (if road closure option is chosen, road closure must be completed before Fourth of July), or after Labor Day Weekend. Physical construction will be completed within 45-55 days of the construction start date, depending in the construction design. 

What are the next steps?  

The County is currently finalizing the design plans and specs with the engineer of record, Wolf Water Resources, to put the project out to bid before the end of January. Conditions of the scope will include a maximum road closure window of 9 days and that both construction options are addressed in the contractor’s bid. The County will also continue to meet with the Fire Marshall and Sheriff to ensure a robust emergency services plan is in place during road closure. 

View project details, download the presentation, and watch the video from the community meeting at https://engage.sanjuancountywa.gov/bayhead-killebrew-culvert.  

Additional questions can be directed to project manager Tyler Davis: tylerd@sanjuancountywa.gov