How a major road project, and endangered salmon, will delay your trip to the mountains

Editor’s note: The Bellingham Herald offers a weekly roundup of road closings and construction detours in Whatcom County and along Interstate 5 on Fridays from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

Mount Baker Highway will be closed east of Bellingham starting Monday and lasting into September for a construction project to help salmon migration and spawning on Squalicum Creek.

A detour around the construction zone will use Smith and Hannegan roads.

It’s part of an $8.8 million Washington State Department of Transportation project to widen a culvert under State Route 542.

Statewide efforts to boost stream flow are part of a 2013 court ruling that said the state must protect salmon runs under treaties with its Indigenous people, whose culture is deeply rooted in the endangered fish.

Other closures

▪ Lake Whatcom Boulevard will close between Lake Louise Road and Cain Lake Road from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily Monday through Wednesday for road maintenance. Local traffic will be allowed.

▪ Lake Louise Road will close from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday between Lake Whatcom Boulevard and Austin Street for mowing and maintenance.

▪ Northbound Interstate 5 lanes and the collector/distributor ramp that brings traffic from I-90 onto I-5 will undergo four overnight closures from Monday night through Friday morning. Drivers on northbound I-5 can reach downtown by using exits near the I-90 interchange, while those continuing through downtown can use the express lanes.

Ongoing projects

▪ F Street remains closed at the railroad crossing between Holly and Roeder streets near the waterfront as part of an effort to establish railroad “quiet zones” where engineers don’t have to sound the locomotive’s horn.

▪ Delays are likely from 6 a.m. to 4 p..m daily for a sewer replacement project on Woburn Street from Barkley Boulevard south to Alabama Street.