Owen Beach to celebrate its opening this weekend, but visitors already have complaints

Owen Beach was set to celebrate its reopening Saturday, but visitors already have ventured to the Tacoma beach and come back with complaints.

One driver posted on Reddit Monday asking the Tacoma subreddit channel if anyone’s car was destroyed on the new speed bumps at Owen Beach. User Terry-Scary wrote, “My car isn’t even that low, driving 2-3 mph and at least two of them sounded like the park was trying to cut my catalytic converter off.”

The speed bumps causing complaints are on the access road from the Point Defiance inner loop road to Owen Beach. The speed bumps are painted yellow.

Another Owen Beach visitor responded.

“We have a Prius C, and I drive like a grandma. We bottomed out on those speed bumps, even at like 1mph,” user LS_throwaway_account wrote. “I think they assumed that everyone has compensation rigs as their primary vehicle.”

Another person commented, “Went on Sunday, holy brutal.”

Metro Parks Tacoma project manager Kristi Evans said the access road is steep to connect different elevations.

“To protect pedestrians as they get in and out of parked cars, as well as at the beach area below, we have installed speed bumps to keep vehicle speeds low,” Evans said.

The speed bumps were designed, permitted and installed according to City of Tacoma municipal code, she added.

Evans recommended driving over the speed bumps very slowly to protect vehicles and pedestrians.

One Reddit user suggested going over the speed bumps as diagonally as possible.

Evans said Metro Parks Tacoma is “constantly monitoring and assessing public ease of use for the future,” as with all park improvements.

Owen Beach was closed for 16 months for a $6.3 million renovation project. The reopened park will have new roadways for vehicles, safer trails for pedestrians, ADA accessible drop-off zones that are close to the water, new restrooms and a new kayak-launch slope. The renovations take into account predicted effects of climate change.

The beach will host an opening celebration Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m, which will include refreshments, kayak rentals, pavilion tours and a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11:30 a.m. The event also will mark the start of the Tacoma Trails Challenge.

Commenting on Owen Beach reopening and Saturday’s celebration, Reddit poster Terry-Scary wrote, “Triple A will be invited.”

This story was originally published June 2, 2022 at 5:05 AM.