Engineering Services - Morrie Road

The work outlined in this project will take place in Washington Town, Orange County, Vermont along the East Branch of the Jail Branch of the Winooski River (44.10898276681952, -72.41983163332297). A group of local, state and federal partners identified aquatic organism passage (AOP) projects in the Jail Branch, a priority brook trout watershed for the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. Hands Mill Dam in Washington was identified as a high priority for removal to restore stream function and open the Jail Branch to passage. The successful removal of Hands Mill Dam in 2024 opened potential upstream habitat to aquatic organisms on the Jail Branch and its tributaries but additional obstacles to upstream aquatic organism passage (AOP) exist in the form of upstream crossings on Woodchuck Hollow Road and Morrie Road. This project builds upon the removal of Hands Mill Dam to further improve and restore access to important habitat for brook trout. The replacement of the Woodchuck Hollow and Morrie Road culverts will reconnect the East Branch to the Jail Branch. The Woodchuck Hollow Culvert replacement has already passed from design into the early phases of implementation. This request for proposals aims to develop engineering designs for the replacement of the culvert on Morrie Road. While the primary goal of this project is to reduce aquatic habitat fragmentation through the replacement of a culvert to increase aquatic organism passage on the Jail Branch, there are co-benefits to this primary goal, including the education of local residents on the importance of aquatic habitat connectivity, increased brook trout habitat and population, decreasing flood risk in the Town of Washington, and thereby providing a mitigation to future weather events