A fish ladder will be built on the Ten Mile River in East Providence to help migrating fish get over the Hunt’s Mills Dam. The steel at left will serve as the top of the ladder.

The Providence Journal / Andrew Dickerman

EAST PROVIDENCE — Perhaps if you were a salmon with legendary leaping ability you could beat the steep rapids of Ten Mile River and get up and over the Hunt’s Mills Dam. But if you’re just a gravity-plagued herring or shad, the odds are long you’ll ever make it upstream to spawn.

But relief is on the way, not only for fish that migrate from the sea to Rhode Island’s inland waterways but for the state’s floundering economy.

A top member of the Obama administration joined state environmental officials on Thursday to celebrate a project that will soon provide clear passage for migrating fish on the Ten Mile and Pawcatuck rivers. The work is being financed with $3 million in federal stimulus funds and is expected to create nearly 200 jobs.

With the river and dam just behind her, and the sounds of the rapids providing a lulling soundtrack to her remarks, Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the projects “provide win-win opportunities for the economy and the environment.”

“The $3 million of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding that NOAA is investing in restoration along the Ten Mile River and the Pawcatuck River will support jobs building fish ladders and removing obsolete dams.”

Work at three dams along the Ten Mile River will allow fish to reach about 340 acres of spawning grounds along three miles of previously obstructed habitat. Similarly, work on the Pawcatuck River will result in the opening of 1,300 acres. The fish passages are expected to support a projected population of 400,000 herring and shad.

The restoration project is just one of 50 chosen from more than 800 applications the federal government received nationwide. Lubchenco praised the many local agencies and volunteers who devoted more than 10 years to the project, making it ready for stimulus funding. In the past, dedicated volunteers have spent hour upon hour scooping migrating fish into nets and then releasing them upstream.

“Today’s gathering here at Hunt’s Mills Dam is about more than restoring fish habitat along rivers,” she said. “It’s also about the intimate connection between communities and their land and seascapes.”

A contract is expected to be signed by the end of the year with Green Seal Inc., of Sandwich, Mass. The work is expected to begin early next summer and be completed by the end of the year, said Mark Tuttle, project manager for the Army Corps of Engineers.

In addition to a host of federal agencies, those involved in the project include the Department of Environmental Management, Save the Bay, the Ten Mile River Watershed Council and the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association.

rsalit@projo.com