This contract provides funding support for pre-construction activities primarily associated with the pre-fabrication of concrete "roughness panels" to be used to improve fish passage conditions in the Mill Creek flood control channel. Project construction to install panels on-site will commence in 2021 and continue into 2025. Fabrication needs to begin by Jan due to the total number of panels (385) projected to be installed in the next two-year planning horizon (FY21/ 22), and the rate at which panels can be built (4/custom form per week; 8 max total) because the fabrication facility is outdoors and winter weather negatively affects production.

Existing conditions in Mill Creek present depth and velocity barriers for returning summer steelhead, bull trout, and spring chinook. The roughness panels will replace some existing concrete in the channel. The additional roughness elements will create a zone of lower-velocity water, providing depths and velocities more favorable to fish passage than current conditions.