Tallant Road Fish Passage Improvement Project

Santa Barbara, CA

Client: City of Santa Barbara Creeks Division

Questa designed a fish passage improvement project at the Tallant Road Bridge in Oak Park on Mission Creek. At this site, the barrier consisted of a sloping concrete apron that was constructed to prevent channel bed scour beneath the footings of the bridge. The apron presented an almost impassible barrier to fish for jumping and swimming. The downstream bed of the creek had degraded, leaving the structure perched. The project removed the concrete apron and reconstructed the channel bed downstream to create a stable and passable transition to the channel above Tallant Road. The channel reconstruction created a series of three pools and chutes leading to a new concrete notch constructed under the bridge, which contains two concrete sills/baffles to increase water depth and reduce flow velocities. Questa prepared a hydrologic and hydraulic design report demonstrating that the proposed project would meet California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) and National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS) guidelines for salmonid passage at structures.