County staff: Garlock culvert is failing; project to go to bid in March with 85% fish-passage funding

Cowlitz County staff told commissioners on Tuesday that a failing culvert on Garlock Road will be put out to bid in March and that roughly 85% of the project is funded through fish-passage grants.

When asked about traffic counts and costs, the county’s project presenter on the call, who identified the site as Garlock, said, "We're looking at a March bid. We did not do a count out there. It is a failing culvert, and the project is 85% funded by fish passage move." The presenter experienced intermittent audio during the meeting and did not provide an engineer’s cost estimate at that time.

County engineering staff defined a "failing culvert" as one showing holes, spalling in concrete, or becoming undersized; when culvert end sections are removed to clear debris, those end sections can be damaged, staff said. "Those are the type of things that are causing failing," an engineering staff member said, and staff noted the county uses a more detailed rating system for culverts.

Commissioners asked staff to provide a formal engineer's estimate and any traffic-count data after the meeting; a staff member agreed to follow up with the cost information by the next Tuesday meeting.

Votes at a glance

- The Garlock culvert discussion was part of the consent/briefing items and did not itself require a separate roll-call motion; the consent agenda that included related easements and items was approved by the board.

Context

The project was described in the meeting under a consent/correspondence block that listed multiple road and easement items by county staff. Commissioners pressed for cost and traffic-count information; staff said none was available at the mic and will provide follow-up material to the board.

Ending

Staff agreed to produce the engineer’s estimate and any available traffic information and to circulate it to commissioners before the bid advertising.