Lake Sylvia Entrance Construction
Project summary
Lake Sylvia State Park closed June through Dec. 13, 2024 for a major construction project that replaced the culvert beneath the entrance road with a bridge and a new road. The culvert failed, which put the road at risk of collapsing, particularly during heavy rain events.
- Location: Lake Sylvia State Park
- Estimated start date: June 10, 2024
- Estimated end date: Dec. 13, 2024
- Budget: $2.9 million
Impacts
Lake Sylvia State Park closed in its entirety last summer. The closure lasted from June 10 through Dec. 12.
The community trails around the park were still accessible from neighborhoods and a city forest by foot or by bike. The trails connected to the park are popular with local hikers, mountain bikers and sometimes equestrians.
Work completed
The failing culvert has been removed, and a bridge has been built over the stream. This project involved removing thousands of cubic feet of soil and taking out the road and culvert.
Parks also built a pedestrian walkway over the new bridge to the park.
Why summer
Summer is often the best weather window for construction. There is also an in-water work window established by WDFW to protect fish present in the lake, during which Parks is permitted to do the construction.
The bridge will improve the connectivity of the stream that is currently constricted by the existing culvert and associated road fill.
Other notable work
During the closure window, the Friends of Lake Sylvia did maintenance and improvement work.
The City of Montesano is worked on a paving project on Sylvia Lake Road during this time.
Reason for delayed reopening (Nov. 27, 2024)
Additional excavation was required to secure the bridge footings, which delayed the original Sept. 30 reopening by two months. Given seasonal weather change, the project still finished ahead of schedule, as it was set to reopen Dec. 31, 2024.