Bothell is one step closer to seeing the long-buried Horse Creek brought above ground in a two-year process to “daylight” the creek.

The city announced this week that water began flowing through the recently constructed channel at 20 percent of its full capacity.

This volume will be maintained until June, when the city hopes to fully transfer the stream from underground pipes. The transition period allows vegetation along the stream to acclimate to the flow, and an environmentally sustainable level of soil saturation to occur along the stream bed, a city press release said.

The creek was buried more than 50 years ago, and was previously used by salmon as they migrated upstream from the Puget Sound to spawn, according to previous Reporter coverage. The new stream will be fish passable.

The portions of the creek to be diverted and daylighted run from just north of Pop Keeney Stadium at Northeast 188th Street, and flow above ground south into the Sammamish River through the Park at Bothell Landing.

The majority of the stream’s length will be viewable by pedestrians, with the creek being guided by concrete walls and adjacent sidewalks.

Previous to the daylighting, city officials had said the pipe housing the creek had become overloaded, leading to problems.

In 2014, the city began construction on the stream channel, finishing it last year, along with installing sidewalk, bridges and utilities infrastructure, according to the city website.

Channel railings and sidewalks are expected to be completed this spring, and the entire project completed this summer, with the exception of landscaping.

The entire project was projected to cost around $19.7 million.