POULSBO — With the fish window closing in a little more than a week, it appears that work on the $14.9 million State Route 305 widening project will be unaffected.

Because of its late start date, city and state officials were concerned about the potential impacts of the fish window, which prohibits all construction activity near streams after Oct. 15.

The fish window is the period of time when salmon return to creeks, streams and rivers to spawn.

“I don’t think they’re going to have a problem,” said City Engineer Andrzej Kasiniak.

Crews from Stan Palmer Construction of Port Orchard have been putting in extra hours to complete the culvert installation at the SR 305/Iverson Street intersection, the realignment of Dogfish Creek and other parts of the project that could be affected by the fish window, Kasiniak said.

“They have an exemption, so they can work at night if they want,” he said, adding that the city council approved the exemption as part of its agreement with the state.

While crews are currently working extended hours, Kasiniak said he expects they will to return to a normal schedule once the culvert installations are completed.

State Rep. Bev Woods (R-Kingston) said her assumption is that the hours were included in the bid for the project, so they shouldn’t impact the project’s overall price tag.

“I talked to the project manager last week, and he said they were going to be fine,” Woods said.

So far the project seems to be going well and Woods said she hasn’t received any complaints about the traffic revisions or other impacts from the project.

With the Iverson Street closure nearing its end, Greater Poulsbo Chamber of Commerce executive director Stuart Leidner said motorists appear to have adjusted to it without many complaints.

“I think people have been able to bisect it, go around and deal with it,” Leidner said.

So far, the project seems to be moving along and the crews are making headway, he said.