Meadowbrook Pond & Thornton Creek Confluence Project
Thornton Creek is 18 miles of urban creeks and tributaries flowing from Shoreline through northeast Seattle into Lake Washington at Matthews Beach Park. The creek is the largest watershed in Seattle, draining a 12-square-mile region of relatively dense biodiversity for an urban setting and home to over 200,000 people.
Thornton Creek provides habitat for many species of fish, including endangered salmon and trout. View more information on migratory fish (pdf).
The North and South Branches of Thornton Creek combine just upstream of Meadowbrook Pond, in a flat area called the Confluence. The project lies within the area bordered by Northeast 105th Street on the south, Northeast 109th on the north, from just west of 35th Avenue Northeast to 39th Avenue Northeast.
At the Confluence, high groundwater has significantly contributed to the wetlands and saturated soils that occupied this site historically. In more recent years, significant flooding has affected a number of homes and occasionally closed 35th Ave. N.E.
Meadowbrook Pond itself is a SPU-created facility near 35th Ave NE, between NE 107th and 110th streets, across from the Meadowbrook Community Center. It serves two distinct functions: (1) flood management on Thornton Creek and (2) a place for fine sediments in the water to deposit, which improves the water quality.
Overall, this project will help restore water quality, improve fish and wildlife habitat, reduce local flooding, and prepare for other flood reduction projects in the future. The project will be phased, with Meadowbrook Pond improvements constructed in summer of 2012 (dredging) and summer of 2013 (maintenance improvements). The confluence area and 35th Ave NE culvert improvements will be constructed in 2014.
View the latest project updates for Meadowbrook Pond and Thornton Creek Confluence.