Hall Road Timber Bridge Reconnects Thunder Bay River

 

The new timber bridge at Hall Road.

Construction of a timber bridge where Hall Road crosses the Thunder Bay River is nearly complete, marking 90 river miles reconnected in this part of the watershed since 2020.

A series of undersized culverts at Hall Road were replaced with a full span structure (pictured above) this month, allowing the Main Branch Thunder Bay River to flow naturally through the crossing even at flood stage and permitting the upstream migration of brown trout and other river life. Hall Road will remain closed until the project wraps up in July.

This is Huron Pines’ fifth road/stream crossing restoration project in the southeast corner of Montmorency County since 2020, when we installed a timber bridge over nearby Gilchrist Creek at Harwood Road. Two more projects occurred on Gilchrist Creek and another on nearby Hunt Creek, all of which are high quality, cold-water tributaries of the Thunder Bay River.

Read more: 40 Miles of Trout Stream Reconnected on Gilchrist Creek

Reconnecting rivers improves water quality, promotes healthier ecosystems for all river life, reduces erosion, and benefits road infrastructure and safety. Timber bridges like this one last many decades and fit more naturally into the surrounding landscape.

Funding for the $765,000 Hall Road restoration project comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Fish Passage Program and Great Lakes Fishery Trust, with in-kind match from the Montmorency County Road Commission. MacArthur Construction is contractor.

See the progression of the project in the slideshow.