Oakes Road and Saratoga Woods Wetland Island County, Washington

As one of only a few locations on the island not having an adequate bypass route for emergency vehicles, Oakes Road was designed to provide a bypass in the event that this section of SR 525 becomes blocked. To offset unavoidable wetland, stream, and buffer impacts associated with the construction of the bypass, a compensatory wetland mitigation plan was designed to support local, state, and federal permitting.

Roadway Design with Unique Environmental Implications

A new, two-lane asphalt roadway, Oakes Road included features such as graded shoulders, drainage ditches and culverts; bioretention and infiltration LID facilities; retaining walls; onsite wetland and stream mitigation; utility relocations; channelization; and signing. The federally-funded project was also unique in that it traverses land parcels containing uncut forests and existing homes which ultimately required establishing an alignment that met objectives while also seeking to minimize property impacts and setbacks from existing structures and private wells. The goal of the mitigation site is to enhance an existing low-functioning wet pasture to a high-functioning wetland with a mosaic of wetland habitats using native plants. Otak led the planning and design of Oakes Road along with the wetland delineation and functional assessment, including coordination of environmental permitting, documentation, and plan installation.