The City Council voted to amend an interlocal agreement with the City of Burien to increase funding for the Miller Creek Daylighting Project.
In 2018, the City of SeaTac agreed to partner with the City of Burien on this project, which will provide improvements to Miller Creek as it leaves Burien and crosses Des Moines
Memorial Drive into SeaTac.
The Miller Creek Stream Realignment and Daylighting Project will include:
~ Relocation of a segment of Miller Creek that currently passes through 2 culverts totaling 465 feet, both of which act as total fish passage barriers and are failing and in need of
replacement, as well as 170 feet of degraded open channel
~ Construction of greater than 1300 feet of new stream channel, designed to minimize erosion and increase habitat
~ Installation of two new fish-passable concrete box culverts
~ Stormwater conveyance and water quality treatment facilities
~ Construction of 1.4 acres of new floodplain to provide additional riparian habitat and flood storage
~ Enhance the pedestrian experience along a nearby trail
Prior to partnering on the project, the City of SeaTac planned on a surface water capital project (estimated in 2017 at $1.37 million) to remove and replace an existing culvert that
conveyed the Miller Creek. The creek is identified as a fish-bearing stream and warranted efforts to improve the long term environmental prospects of restoring habitat and fish
utilization for future generations.
In October 2020, SeaTac executed an Interlocal Agreement with the City of Burien committing $985,000 toward the project based on a 2019 construction cost estimate. The funding
is allocated from the Surface Water Management Utility Fund. Complexities associated with permitting and agency coordination delayed the project design until completion this
year. Now, the project has received all necessary approvals and is scheduled to be advertised for construction later this fall.
The estimated total construction costs have increased since the 2019 estimate of $3.22 million and to $4.8 million. The estimate for the SeaTac segment of the project increased
City’s share from $985,000 to $1.76 million.
Original source can be found here.
