Western Federal Lands Highway Division

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, proposes to repair flood-damaged sites of Forest Highway 26, also known as Suiattle River Road.

For information on the history of Suiattle Road #26, see the Mount Baker- Snoqualmie National Forest website: http://fs.usda.gov/mbs.

Proposed Actions

The proposal would repair flood damage, re-establish vehicle access, and abandon and rehabilitate sections of Suiattle Road 26:

• Milepost 6.0: Reroute the road for about 2500 feet, with realignment of about 375 to 400 feet inland from the eroded Suiattle River bank. The old roadway would be abandoned and rehabilitated with mitigations for associated wetlands and flood plain reconnection.
• Milepost 12.6: Reconstruct the road 1200 to 1300 feet, with an offset of up to 70 feet from the existing road.

• Milepost 13 and 13.5: Reroute around the two washouts with a realignment of approximately 1.1 mile of road upslope of Road 26 and away from the Suiattle River.

  The reroute will use Forest Service Road 2670 (0.5 mile) and new road construction through second growth and mature forest to reconnect to Road 26. This reroute starts at MP 12.7 (Road 2670) and reconnects with Road 26 at MP 13.7. Approximately 1 mile of Road 26 would be abandoned and rehabilitated, with associated wetlands and flood plains reconnected.

• Milepost 14.4: Align the roadway for a length of about 900 feet, 55 to 90 feet away from the eroded river bank. The Huckleberry trailhead and parking would be re-established, and the temporary reroute road abandoned and rehabilitated.
• Milepost 20.8: Reconstruct the road for about 350 feet by moving the roadway into the hillside. All work will be outside of the ordinary high water mark for the Suiattle River.
• Milepost 20.9: Construct a series of bridge extension to cross the Downey Creek floodplain to the existing bridge. Remove fill and culvert in bridge approach to accommodate flood flows and channel processes across the floodplain.
• Milepost 22.9: Repair the bridge approach with a concrete faced retaining wall built at the edge of the Sulphur Creek Bridge deck and keyed to the bank.

Proposed Time Frames

• The proposed repair and rehabilitation are anticipated to take two or three summers to complete.
• The proposed years for activities are 2013 through 2014/2015.

Public Involvement

• EA, Amended EA or FONSI hard copies can be requested from the contacts above or downloaded from the FHWA and Forest Service websites.

  Comments that were received in response to this notice, including names and addresses when provided, became part of the Project Record and are available for public review.

• A public meeting was held on March 29th, 2012 from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM at the Everett Firefighters Association. Representatives from the FHWA, and the Forest Service were available to answer questions and receive comments.

Documents and Updates

• Project Map
• Suiattle Road Repairs Pamphlet  (Acrobat, 276 KB)