WSDOT, Redmond to fund lower Bear Creek restoration

Funding for the restoration of lower Bear Creek is now in place through collaborative efforts between the Washington State Department of Transportation and the City of Redmond.

Over the next several years, the lower 3,000 feet of Bear Creek, which runs from the Sammamish River, adjacent to SR 520 and behind Redmond Town Center, will be carefully relocated and restored to greatly enhance this regionally significant salmon spawning stream.

This collaboration will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 26, on the patio behind Redmond City Hall, 15670 NE 85th Street. All those interested in the environment and particularly Bear Creek are invited to attend.

The relocation and restoration of lower Bear Creek – moving it further from SR 520, enhancing the buffer with native plants and restoring bends and channel complexity – has been on the minds of city staff for over a decade; however, funding for the project was always out of reach. In the 1990s, the Army Corps of Engineers did support the project but it was put on hold when federal funds were curtailed. Recently, the project was placed on the priority actions list for the Water Resource Inventory Area 8 Plan, which made additional grant money more accessible, but still not sufficient to begin the project.

Through the SR 520 Bridge replacement project (over Lake Washington), state funding is available to provide advance mitigation for the ecological effects of the bridge construction. The Bear Creek Restoration qualifies for this funding and the city will receive $8 million towards the effort. The total project cost is $10 million, with the remainder funded through Redmond’s Capital Investment Program and grants.

“This collaboration between the city and state emphasizes how solving our regional transportation challenges and improving our environment can move forward together,” stated Mayor John Marchione. “Relocating and restoring this portion of Bear Creek into a productive salmon-bearing stream continues the city’s commitment to protect and improve our environment.”

For more information about the Bear Creek Restoration, contact Jon Spangler, the City of Redmond’s manager of natural resources, at jspangler@redmond.gov or (425) 556-2823.