PRIEST RIVER — A construction project on East River Road will ultimately ease the burden of native fish during their journey up Big Creek, a tributary of the Priest River.

The Big Creek bridge project came about as a fish mitigation project with contributions by the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Kalispel Tribe and Bonner County, said Bonner County Road and Bridge director Steve Klatt.

"The existing culvert discharges high enough above the creek level to challenge both bull trout and cutthroat in their traverse up Big Creek, a spawning tributary for both species," Klatt said in an email to the Daily Bee.

The project area is located on East River Road near the intersection of Fox Creek Road, near where Big Creek meets the Priest River.

The Big Creek bridge project includes a temporary rerouting of the stream flow, the removal of the culvert, constructing a new streambed channel where the culvert had been, and then re-opening the channel for a natural passage. This part of the project should be completed by this weekend, Klatt said.

"The contractor will then rip-rap the newly formed streambanks where the culvert has been for permanent protection," Klatt said. "Then we can begin to build the Big Creek bridge."

The entire project is scheduled to wrap up by Sept. 1, he said. In the meantime a one-lane detour bridge has been constructed around the project area to allow traffic through.

Another area further north on East River Road will undergo construction in the future, though Klatt said those repairs are still several years away. The hillside in the 6400 block of East River is unstable and as the ground begins to thaw each spring, it causes a road slump that results in traffic being detoured to East River Loop. A temporary fix is in place to allow traffic through at this time.

"That project works with federal highway dollars through the Idaho Federal Aid program administered by ITD and Local Highway Technical Assistance Council," Klatt said. "That project is quite complex and the permanent fix is expensive, but has just started the consultant selection process."

Mary Malone can be reached by email at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.