PORT ANGELES — The Washington State Department of Transportation is planning a giant salmon restoration project here that could require buying out a motel owner, tearing down the building and excavating the highway culvert beneath it, at a price tag of some $100 million.
Yet even after all this work, salmon wouldn’t be able to swim up most of the stream.
As WSDOT races to replace hundreds of culverts by 2030 to meet a court deadline, lawmakers and at least one tribal leader are asking whether projects like this make sense…