Detours, closure to cause travel impacts on popular route through Point Defiance Park
UPDATE: This work has been postponed to April 5.
PREVIOUS STORY: Point Defiance Park visitors, take note: Five Mile Drive will close to all vehicle, pedestrian and cycling traffic on Thursday, April 1.
The one-day closure is due to installation and tie-in of a new water line to the park’s main supply line.
Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, the Point Defiance Marina and the garden areas near the pond at the park entry will be open to the public and fully accessible during the closure.
All amenities located beyond the Five Mile Drive main gate will be closed and off limits to visitors.
The one-day closure is part of a wider bout of traffic detours on Five Mile Drive as crews work to replace an obsolete water supply line. The project is part of the year-long, $4 million infrastructure improvements that started at Owen Beach in February.
Starting March 29 through April 5, vehicles will be detoured to Owen Beach entrance road where they will be routed through a construction fencing tunnel and up through the Owen Beach exit back to Five Mile Drive. Owen Beach will not be open to the public.
On April 6, the Five Mile Drive inner loop will reopen to vehicular traffic.
Visitors to Five Mile Drive should be aware of intermittent traffic stoppages of up to 15 minutes on weekdays through mid-2022 when the project is expected to be complete.
“Vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists will be stopped as needed to allow contractors to move heavy equipment and supplies into and out of the work zone at the Owen Beach renovation project,” Metro Parks Tacoma stated in a news release Monday. “Visitors planning to use Five Mile Drive during this period are advised to allow extra time to reach their destinations.”
This story was originally published March 22, 2021 at 11:31 AM.
