As usual, I was reading legal notices, which includes applications and permits for the Department of Ecology and I came across the word Ford: The project would include installation of 4 new fords.  I reached out the Dept of Ecology and here is what I learned…..

A ford is basically just a stream crossing fortified with rock. See attached drawing. Here is an excerpt from the project proponent’s application about fords.

Fords
The Project would include installation of 4 new fords that would be subject to federal permitting. Installation would require re-contouring the streambanks and adding geotextile fabric and 12-inch rip rap. Approximately 5 CY of this riprap would fill the stream within the OHWM. For the purposes of permitting, the temporary and permanent impacts for new ford installation and ford replacement were conservatively assumed to be the same (see Sheet 2 in Attachment 5 for the typical detail and impacts associated with ford installation and replacement). Permanent impacts of approximately 132 square feet would occur at each ford crossing that that conveys a wetland or waterbody over a road.

In the 1965 film The Sound of Music, the main character sings the song Climb Ev’ry Mountain which has the lyrics “climb every mountain, ford every stream”. It’s used as a verb there, meaning to cross the stream.

Click here to view a ford drawing

This week on November 22, 2019, you are invited to attend the opening reception for the Henry Klein Homes: Light, Form and Materiality Through the Decades exhibit from 5:00 – 7:00pm.

Location: The Historical Museum of Skagit County
Day + Time: November 22, 2019 from 5:00 – 7:00pm
Entry fee: Free

This exceptional exhibit of residential de­sign works by our founder, regionally noted architect Henry Klein (1920-2013), will run through March of 2020. Visit to experience Henry’s guid­ing themes of natural light, in­door/out­door connections, natural materials, gracious over­hangs, and beautiful screening weave through every decade from the 1950s until his re­tire­ment in the early 2000s.

No tickets are needed to attend the exhibit and museum entry is free for members. The regular exhibit hours are Tuesday – Sunday from 11:00am – 4:00pm. For non-members, the museum entry fee is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and children, and $10 for families (two adults with two children).

We hope that you will embrace this wonderful op­por­tu­nity to see a rare curated collection of photographs of the design and construction of Henry Klein’s most notable homes. Klein’s process of design is also illuminated through working drawings, hand sketches, and physical models.

The following are some of the major projects in Whatcom County:

? $12.1 million for the Thornton Road Overpass in the Ferndale area.

? $9.4 million for an Orchard Drive east-west connector under I-5 in Bellingham.

? $6.5 million for I-5/Northbound on-ramp at Bakerview Road. The project is to construct a northbound on-ramp on the east side of I-5 to address congestion, enhance regional multimodal transportation and support economic development in northwestern Bellingham.

? $200,000 for the Washington state-British Columbia joint transportation action plan for international mobility and trade.

? $2 million to construct improvements to the I-5/Slater Road Interchange and accommodate planned future development in the area around the interchange.

It also including the following a project covering multiple counties:

? $1.6 million for Skagit Transit to purchase five replacement buses to be used on the county connector services operated by Skagit Transit and partnership with Island Transit and Whatcom Transit. The buses will add passenger capacity and emissions reduction.