Old Samish Road near Bellingham closing through December. Here’s what to know
Old Samish Road south of Bellingham will close starting April 27 as WSDOT builds a bypass road for a major salmon habitat project along Interstate 5. The $160 million effort will replace fish barriers with new bridges and culverts across a 6-mile stretch in Whatcom and Skagit counties.
FULL STORY: Old Samish Road set to close through December for WSDOT salmon habitat work
Here are key takeaways:
• The closure: Old Samish Road closes at 5 a.m. Monday, April 27, in the 1400 block where it crosses Chuckanut Creek near I-5. The road is expected to remain closed through the end of the year.
• Traffic impact: About 2,600 cars and trucks travel Old Samish Road daily west of the closure site and about 900 daily east of it, according to a 2023 city of Bellingham traffic survey.
• I-5 disruptions: Overnight single-lane closures on I-5 from Bellingham south to the Skagit County line are expected — except during the World Cup in June.
• Emergency response changes: South Whatcom Fire Authority is coordinating with Bellingham Fire Department so Station 2 responds ahead of Fire Station 28 for affected areas to minimize delays caused by the closure.
• The project: WSDOT is replacing 17 fish barriers with 10 new bridges and culverts to improve stream connectivity for tributaries to Friday Creek, Lake Creek and Chuckanut Creek near Lake Samish. The work stems from a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld Indigenous tribes’ fishing rights under 1850s treaties.
• What’s next: When a southbound bypass road is finished in May, southbound I-5 traffic will shift to Old Samish Road, and northbound traffic will shift to the new bypass.
The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The full story in the link at top was reported, written and edited entirely by journalists.
This story was originally published April 24, 2026 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Old Samish Road near Bellingham closing through December. Here’s what to know."
