![Three aging culverts in the Jordan River watershed will be replaced with timber bridges this fall. The culverts obstruct the river's flow, preventing certain species from passing upstream and threatening road safety during rain events. "We'll see a natural stream dimension return," said Kimberly Balke, program director at the Conservation Resource Alliance. "We won't have [a] huge impoundment area that's full of muck. ... That single culvert is acting like a dam, really, for how undersized it is." <i>(Photo: Conservation Resource Alliance)</i>](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/06748aa/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2048x1364+0+0/resize/840x560!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnpr.brightspotcdn.com%2Fa3%2Fbf%2F91c6be40465da4247412f28deff6%2Fdji-0236.jpg)
Three choke points on the Jordan River are getting a makeover.
The river, which winds through Antrim County and empties into Lake Charlevoix, has multiple road crossings that impede its flow.
Three undersized culverts will be replaced with bridges to restore that flow and improve road safety.
“[With] undersized culverts, it’s like funneling the river through a fire hose,” said Kimberly Balke, program director at Conservation Resource Alliance.
New timber bridges, two on the main stem of the Jordan River and one on the Deer Creek tributary, should solve that problem.
Balke says the culverts threatened road safety, especially during major rain events and snow melts. But they also prevented certain species from moving freely throughout the stream.
“For example, a brook trout doesn't really like to swim in a water current any faster than three feet per second. At one crossing we measured the velocity to be almost seven feet per second,” Balke said. “So you can imagine, a young brook trout isn't going to want to swim upstream through those culverts.”
She says mottled sculpin, a native fish species whose presence indicates good water quality, will also have renewed access to the stream.
The cost to replace the three culverts is nearly $2.5 million, mainly paid for by tribal, federal, state and local money plus private donations.
Balke says after construction is finished in November, the main stem of the Jordan River will be free of human-made obstructions. The focus will move toward freeing up the river’s smaller tributaries next.
