New Steptoe Canyon bridge open to traffic

The new Steptoe Canyon Bridge opened Monday to traffic after a summer of work, which included a delay to check out ash remnants of what is believed to be the site of an indigenous people’s firepit from long ago.

The temporary detour bridge will be removed this week or next.

As part of the bridge replacement project, a Public Works crew built a fish passage channel. Washington State Salmon Recovery Board funded the $250,000 total project Another $50,000 of Whitman County manpower and equipment costs went into the project.

The original corrugated metal culvert was perched, meaning it sat above the stream channel and did not allow fish to get upstream of the county crossing to spawn.

“It’s nice,” said Commissioner Dean Kinzer Monday while he reported he drove by the new bridge. “I didn’t see a single salmon in the stream, though.”

Following a delay in August after the ash was discovered at the site, it was evaluated by the Nez Perce Tribe and Army Corps of Engineers before the county received approval to bury it and proceed.

It was covered with geotextile fabric, followed by large rocks at the site south of Colton.

Public Works installed a temporary bridge detour in July to prepare to build the new 30-foot, pre-stressed concrete, reinforced bridge.

Steptoe Canyon Road intersects with Wawawai Road along the Snake River 10 miles west of Clarkston.