Traffic Woes on SR-302, with More to Come

The Washington State Department of Transportation began work to replace two culverts at the end of July under State Route 302 on Little Minter Creek just north of the bridge near 118th Avenue NW, including a 12-day closure of SR-302 that began August 11.

Passenger vehicles were detoured between 118th and 134th Avenue NW onto Creviston Drive NW, which led to significant traffic delays as vehicles waited to re-enter SR-302.

The culvert replacement is the result of a lawsuit that pitted tribal authorities against Washington state in a dispute over salmon management. The tribes argued in 2001 that WSDOT was responsible for replacing culverts that acted as a barrier to returning salmon. Seventeen years later, after a series of appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court reached a split decision and defaulted to an earlier ruling in favor of the tribes. Washington was ordered to fix hundreds of areas deemed barriers — fixes estimated to cost over $3 billion in culvert expansion and bridge construction.

The new Minter Creek Bridge finished in 2020 was part of that effort, as is the work on Little Minter Creek just north of it. The project is expected to be completed in early fall.

Later in the fall, WSDOT will begin culvert replacement and construction of a new bridge in Purdy on the SR-302 spur/Purdy Drive NW south of 144th Street NW near Peninsula High School. The work will require a detour onto Purdy Lane NW, a smaller road east of the SR-302 spur, including a temporary signal at the intersection of 144th and Purdy Lane. The detour is expected to remain for a year.

Similar work will be done on State Route 16 north of Purdy beginning at the end of August. Overnight lane closures will allow crews to create a large median work zone where all westbound lanes will be moved while two culverts are replaced. 

The work on SR-16 and the SR-302 Spur at Purdy Creek should be completed in 2024.

For more information, go to WSDOT