Caltrans Hit with Lawsuit Over Highway Project, Fish Barriers

A California Department of Transportation project that diverted a creek trapped and killed endangered steelhead fish, an environmental group alleges in a federal lawsuit.

The agency, Caltrans, implemented the Gaviota Creek Scour Repair Project in Santa Barbara County to repair portions of Highway 101 following storms in January 2023. But it allegedly didn’t have the proper permits and the project has created more fish barriers in the creek, the Coastal Ranches Conservancy said in its complaint Thursday in the US District Court for the Central District of California.

The conservancy alleges that the fish passage barriers and the scour repair ...