Prestile Brook Culvert Replacement

To help improve wildlife passage and highway safety, VHB provided preliminary design services for the replacement of a large culvert replacement carrying Route 164 over Prestile Brook for the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT). As part of the project, VHB evaluated three potential replacement options for the existing, 120-foot-long culvert and prepared a geomorphically based “stream-smart” natural stream channel simulation design. The design is consistent with MaineDOT Habitat Connectivity Design (HCD) techniques, including consideration stream profile, channel geometry, hydraulic analysis, as well as fish passage and moose passage. It also complies with the guidelines of the Maine Atlantic Salmon Programmatic Consultation (MAP) User Guide. Given potential impacts to the US Route 1 culvert located approximately 3,000 feet downstream of this project, we provided an estimate of increased flood discharges downstream of the project resulting from the culvert replacement. VHB is currently working on Phase II of the project, including final design and construction documents.