Fish Passage Program

WSDOT’s Fish Passage Program improves fish passage, reconnects streams and restores fish habitat to maintain a healthy waterway ecosystem. Driven by the agency’s environmental commitment and compliance with a 2013 U.S. Court injunction, WSDOT’s fish passage barrier corrections program has already completed more than 300 projects and restored an estimated 1,170 miles of habitat across the state.

To support all aspects of fish passage delivery in its Northwest Region, WSDOT awarded HNTB a General Engineering Contract in late 2019. In this role, HNTB serves as WSDOT’s owner representative for improvements in Island, King, Pierce, Snohomish, Skagit, and Whatcom counties.

More than one hundred HNTB team members – geomorphologists, stream design and environmental engineers, fishery biologists, project and procurement managers, project control staff, roadway, drainage, geotechnic, and structural engineers, utility engineers, and landscape architects – rise each morning to meet the great challenge of this work, knowing they are making a difference.

HNTB is providing a wide range of planning, environmental, and engineering services from our Bellevue office. This work includes:

• Developing and managing preliminary and final hydraulic designs (PHDs and FHDs) for fish passage structures and stream restoration
• Supporting environmental compliance and permitting for barrier replacement projects
• Providing conceptual engineering and design-build procurement
• Providing final engineering design for construction of upgrades to culverts and/or new bridges
• Providing engineering services during construction

The HNTB team also fills numerous critical staff augmentation positions for WSDOT’s Northwest Region. We work alongside our WSDOT colleagues on permitting strategies, environmental compliance, and coordination with WDFW and Tribal partners. This work positions fish passage projects for advertisement and construction.