The culvert at PCH and Corral Canyon Road currently blocks steelhead trout from accessing habitat upstream. Photo by Caltrans.
Construction is currently underway to replace a concrete culvert at the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and Corral Canyon Road with an eco-bridge, Caltrans announced on social media Tuesday.
The project, which aims to help the local endangered steelhead trout population, is part of a larger $62.2 million initiative to improve stormwater drainage infrastructure, while reconstructing 13 culverts in order to restore passageways for the fish, on PCH from Pacific Palisades to Ventura County.
Steelhead trout were once found abundantly across the Pacific Coast. However, the species has been federally designated as endangered since 1997 and has only continued to decline.
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According to California Trout, a non-profit dedicated to conserving wild fish, southern steelhead trout populations are even in danger of going extinct within the next 25 to 50 years due to various human and environmental impacts.
Steelhead trout are born in freshwater ecosystems and can spend their entire lives in freshwater. However, some choose to migrate downstream to the ocean — and are then often unable to make the necessary journey back to freshwater in order to reproduce due to manmade barriers like culverts.
The Corral Canyon project is particularly concerned with restoring the fish’s access to upstream habitat in Solstice Creek, a freshwater ecosystem where the trout can reproduce.
The bridge is expected to be complete by the end of this year.
