Thurston County declares emergency to repair deteriorating culvert at Scatter Creek tributary

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Thurston County has declared a local emergency for the section of Churchill Road Southeast that crosses a tributary of Scatter Creek in unincorporated south county to make immediate repairs to a damaged 8-foot diameter culvert.

The declaration allows public works staff to waive competitive bidding requirements to expedite the process to work with a contractor on the repairs. Public works staff received a message from a resident on March 24 that a portion of pavement had failed overnight. Upon further inspection, staff determined the metal culvert under the road had rusted through and soil from the road embankment above was falling through into the stream below.

Public works reduced the road to a single lane to ensure traffic could continue to safely pass. Temporary barriers and signage were installed to notify the approximately 250 traveling vehicles per day of the one-lane road.

Culvert and road conditions have continued to deteriorate quicker than staff expected since the initial inspection. The declaration was necessary as it was unlikely that staff could maintain a single lane of traffic through the next several months without further action. Eight residential properties are located on the other side of the culvert, and public works staff needed to maintain access for them, as well as emergency services.



The planned repair consists of inserting a smaller diameter pipe inside of the damaged culvert to limit further damage from continued destabilization of the road above, as well as filling in the void between the pipes with grout. The intent of the repair is temporary in nature, but a permanent capital project will eventually be necessary to bring the water crossing up to current standards. Temporary repair costs are estimated at $320,000 to be covered within existing budget resources, according to the board’s agenda report.

County Engineer Matt Unzelman said the culvert will be about a 30- to 40-foot bridge and could take a total of three to four years for the permanent repairs, including environmental permitting, right-of-way acquisition and design. He added that the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife requires the structure to be repaired within five years.

“Unfortunately, we’ve got an aging infrastructure out there. It’s not just Thurston County. It’s all across the U.S.,” Unzelman said. “All these underground culverts and facilities are all getting old at the same time. It’s a challenge, especially when you have to replace all these pipes with a lot bigger structures that are expensive to construct.”