When will it ever end?

That is what many on Bainbridge Island must be wondering as work is still continuing on the fish passage project at Highway 305 and Sportsman Club Road. The almost $13.3 million project started in August of 2022 and is set to finish in November.

The work will open almost 1.5 miles of potential habitat on Murden Creek for fish as a culvert is being replaced by a 120-foot-long bridge. The creek is a top salmon stream on BI and a tributary to Murden Cove, a state Department of Transportation news release says.

Traffic is moving through a two-lane bypass around the work zone, with speed limits reduced to 35 mph. Tree removal and replacement allowed DOT to enhance the creek, allowing the waterway to flow naturally under the new bridge.

Trees also were removed to build the bypass road, but crews will plant more than twice the number of trees that were taken out. Workers also will plant 3,000 shrubs. A detour for bicycles and pedestrians also has been constructed.

A 2013 federal court injunction requires DOT to increase efforts to remove state-owned culverts that block habitat for salmon, bull trout and steelhead.