Bridge to Mount Rainier National Park permanently closed due to safety risks

Isabela Lund, The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.) on Apr 22, 2025

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TACOMA, Wash. — A 103-year-old, single-lane bridge that leads to Mount Rainier National Park and the Carbon River Ranger Station is permanently closed due to safety concerns, the Washington State Department of Transportation said in a news release on Tuesday.

This closure stops public access from state Route 165 to popular areas such as Mowich Lake, Spray Park, the Carbon Glacier Trail and Tolmie Peak. Visiting those areas will now require hiking many miles on likely overnight trips from another entrance to the park.

The 494-foot-long state Route 165 Carbon River Fairfax Bridge – which is located near milepost 11.5, three miles south of Carbonado – has been closed since April 14. WSDOT announced last week that they were closing the bridge “indefinitely” after crews inspected it and saw the steel supports deteriorating. Now, it’s closed for good.

“Follow-up inspections prompted the agency to permanently close the 103-year-old bridge,” the release said. “Photos show the bridge support column is bent in two directions and starting to buckle.”

While there is a 9-mile emergency detour for first responders and local property owners, that detour is not open to the public, the release said. There is no way for the public to access that area of Mount Rainier National Park or the Carbon River Range Station from state Route 165.

“Closing the bridge was our last option,” Steve Roark, an Olympic Region administrator for WSDOT, said in the release. “We fully understand the magnitude of this decision for everyone who relies on this bridge.”

There is no funding right now to replace the bridge, the release said.

WSDOT officials said they are considering three options. One of the options is to keep the bridge closed and not replace it, one is to build a replacement bridge in the same area, and the third option involves “re-routing SR 165 on a new alignment to east or west of Carbon River Canyon,” the release said.

“WSDOT is actively working with the Governor’s office, partnering agencies and the state Legislature on all possible next steps,” the release said.

There will be an in-person and online open house after Memorial Day. WSDOT said they will announce those dates in a news release when they have been confirmed.

“The open house events will give the public opportunities to provide feedback and input on options being explored,” the release said.

History of the bridge

The Carbon River/Fairfax Bridge opened in 1921. WSDOT previously said in a news release that an average state-owned vehicle bridge lasts 51 years.

In July 2024, WSDOT reduced the bridge’s load rating to 16,000 pounds. In 2013, commercial vehicles could no longer go across the bridge.

WSDOT placed three restrictions on the bridge between 2009 and 2024, the Tuesday release said.

“Years of deferred preservation work due to limited preservation funding resulted in the updated weight restrictions and now the indefinite closure,” WSDOT said in a previous news release.