Bridge closure limits access to Mount Rainier. Emergency funds could rebuild it

Legislators have introduced a new bill that would aim to restore access on state Route 165 at the site of the Carbon River Fairfax Bridge.

Jayme Peloli, the mayor-elect of Wilkeson, told the News Tribune that House Bill 2149 would ramp up the process of replacing the bridge, which closed permanently due to safety reasons on April 22.

“It’s basically creating a road map for this particular situation to bypass the red tape and get something going on this bridge, and paying for a new one, putting it up and not waiting – because right now, there is no process and that’s why there are no answers,” Peloli told the News Tribune.

Legislators introduced the bill on Dec. 16, with Rep. Andrew Barkis and Rep. Josh Penner sponsoring it. Barkis and Penner are both Republicans. The bill now has to go through the state House of Representatives and Senate, with the legislative session slated to start on Jan. 12.

The closure of the 103-year-old, single-lane bridge has had a huge impact on surrounding communities. The bridge was the only way for residents to access key areas of Mount Rainier National Park from state Route 165, such as Mowich Lake, Tolmie Peak and Spray Park. Local businesses in Wilkeson who relied on the tourist traffic to the park are struggling to stay afloat. Neighbors who live on the other side of the bridge, in the Carbon Canyon, are isolated by the closure. An alternate route has provided limited access for those residents.

Peloli previously asked the Washington State Auditor’s Office to look into the Washington State Department of Transportation ’s lack of repairs to the bridge which had not been painted since 1988. WSDOT previously told the News Tribune this was due to a lack of funding from the legislature to address the hundreds of bridges across the state that needed repairs.

“Right now, there’s no legislative bill or anything that’s put in place for state-neglected transportation or anything that was neglected by the state,” Peloli told the News Tribune. “Essentially, you cannot declare it an emergency – it has to be hit by a truck, or bombed, or some kind of natural disaster. There’s no legislative pieces that support the infrastructure if it’s neglected by the state or it’s the state’s fault. There’s no road map to fix that.” What will this bill do?

This bill, if passed, would declare the bridge’s closure an emergency – which would allow WSDOT to circumvent legal loopholes and red tape that could prevent a timely response to the closure. It also opens up doors for funding that wouldn’t be possible without an emergency declaration.

“It’s a special situation on its own, it doesn’t necessarily set the pathway moving forward for a similar situation,” Peloli said. “But it directs WSDOT to restore access and quickly to do it, to expedite the planning. We don’t want to have unnecessary delays, so it basically allows for temporary suspension of statutory or legal requirements that would hinder an emergency response.”

According to the text of the bill, this state of emergency would allow WSDOT to use funds from the state’s climate investment account to build a new bridge.

“During the 2025-2027 and 2027-2029 fiscal biennia, the legislature may provide full funding for the emergency replacement of infrastructure on state route number 165 caused by failure to adequately address the impacts of climate,” the bill says. What would solutions look like?

After WSDOT closed the bridge, they launched a $1.5 million planning study that explored seven options for addressing the fate of the bridge. Each of the seven options varied in terms of timeline and pricing.

• In August, WSDOT announced they had narrowed it down to two options: Build a bridge replacement north of the bridge’s existing location. Tear down the existing bridge without replacing it with a new one, essentially keeping the area inaccessible.

Building a bridge replacement to the north would cost about $160 million and take six years, WSDOT previously told The News Tribune. The option for tearing down the existing bridge and not building a replacement would cost $70 million to $80 million and take about three years.

WSDOT does not currently have a source of funding; these time frames would start from whenever officials were able to identify funding.

“The current infrastructure, the original bridge that was put there, you don’t see those bridges anymore in general. It was made for that exact situation 103 years ago,” Peloli told The News Tribune. “The terrain is very unique to that location and it sits over the Carbon River, so I think it’s going to take a lot of planning and a lot of people coming to the table with ideas and what it looks like. But I realized, and Rep. Barkis realized, that even if they were to find a path forward, the biggest hurdle would be the funding.”

By declaring a state of emergency and unlocking that state funding, it would expedite the process of finding solutions, Peloli said. ‘We spoke up even when it was uncomfortable’

Peloli told The News Tribune that seeing this bill introduced was “emotional” for her.

“It’s emotional for me, it’s emotional for the Fairfax residents, anybody who enjoys being up in the park and using those public lands,” Peloli said. “This is something we’ve been working really hard to get eyes on.”

In a Dec. 17 Facebook post, Peloli said this bill was a symbol of the change that can happen when a community comes together.

“For a long time, it felt like our concerns were dismissed, minimized, or treated as something small. But we kept showing up. We asked questions. We dug deeper. We spoke up even when it was uncomfortable,” Peloli wrote. “And little by little, the truth started to come out. This work has never been about headlines or recognition. It’s about protecting our town, our mountain, our public lands, our history, our safety, and our future.”