POULSBO — The recent rains and snows may have slowed work on the $14.9 million State Route 305 widening project, but it hasn’t prevented some Northwest residents from taking advantage of new travel routes provided by the project.

Among the first tasks accomplished by crews from Stan Palmer Construction of Port Orchard was the realignment and improvement of the section of Dogfish Creek north of Schuck’s Auto Supply.

Crews also installed fish friendly culverts at the Liberty Road/SR 305, Forest Rock Hills/SR 305, Lincoln Road/SR 305 and Iverson Street/SR 305 intersections before the fish window closed on Oct. 15.

“It’s wonderful. It just shows how much we can accomplish when we work together,” said Poulsbo Mayor Kathryn Quade.

Poulsbo City Engineer Andrzej Kasiniak agreed with Quade’s assessment and said it is great that the hard work put into the highway project is paying dividends.

“It’s great to see it work the way it should,” Kasiniak said.

All of the credit goes to all of the partners who worked to balance the traffic needs with environmental sensitivity, Kasiniak said.

“We take very seriously our role as environmental stewards,” said Washington State Department of Transportation project manager Jerry Moore. “While the return of the salmon was fully expected, it’s still nice to get nature’s stamp of approval on the work we’re doing.”

While the fish window has closed on the 2006 construction season, as soon as it reopens, a few culverts in the Bond Road/SR 305 vicinity will be replaced as well to allow fish easier passage along the creek corridor.

“I talked to some Poulsbo city employees who had seen a salmon near the 8th and Iverson Street intersection,” said WSDOT construction engineer George Titterness. “One of them mentioned it was the largest fish he had ever seen that far up creek.”

Nature’s inherent resiliency deserves as much credit as the workers who designed and built the new channel, Titterness said.

“As long as we provide a good grade for the creek with no obstructions and good streambed gravel, it doesn’t take long for nature to do the rest,” Titterness said. “Nature is pretty chaotic, so it’s not like every piece of gravel or woody debris has to be in a certain position.”