Busy section of Point Defiance Park road to close for a year starting in May. Here’s why
A section of Five Mile Drive at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma will be closed for about a year starting in May while the Parks Tacoma begins construction on a new paved trail that will improve safety and provide more connectivity for pedestrians and cyclists.
The road closure won’t impact visitors’ ability to hike at the park or visit places like Owen Beach, but it will close a section of road from the turn at Waterfront Drive up to Animal Loop Road. A non-paved detour will be provided for pedestrians and bicyclists. Details about what day the road will close have not been shared.
Next month drivers wanting to access the Lodge, Pagoda, gardens and the marina will have to use the Pearl Street entrance. Those visiting Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, Owen Beach, Fort Nisqually and the Outer Loop of Five Mile Drive will have to use the Mildred Street entrance, Parks Tacoma said in a news release.
Point Defiance Park, which covers 760 acres, is one of the busiest parks in Tacoma with more than 3 million visitors every year, staff said. As the park has gotten busier, it’s been common to see people walking on the roadways. Students with the Science and Math Institute, which is nestled inside the park, add to foot traffic as they walk between classes.
This is the second phase of a Loop Trail improvement project and will create 1.6 miles of paved trail along the roadway to make it safer for bicyclists and pedestrians, Parks Tacoma said. It also will connect to trails over the Wilson Way pedestrian bridge from Dune Peninsula.
“In 2016, the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office awarded Parks Tacoma a $3.25 million grant to move forward with Loop Trail. The second phase is estimated to cost about $7 million, with the remainder of funds coming from the 2014 voter-approved bond,” Parks Tacoma said in a news release. “The first phase was completed in 2023 and included a new sidewalk and improvements to Park Avenue west of the Mildred Street entrance roundabout. It also paved the top of Trolley Lane trail leading north from the roundabout to the Japanese Garden, featuring a small plaza at the entry of Wilson Way Bridge and a safer pedestrian road crossing near the garden.”
Construction on Phase 2 will begin May 27 just past the Pagoda and extend to the stop sign near the muskox enclosure at the zoo. A two-lane one-way road there will be permanently reduced to one lane to accommodate a new divided and paved sidewalk on the right side, said capital improvement program manager Terry Jungman. Once complete, it will connect with the pedestrian and cyclist access trail to Owen Beach, which was revamped in 2022, Parks Tacoma said.
Although Parks Tacoma isn’t aware of anyone who has gotten hurt by a car while walking along this route, parks officials have received feedback from people who want to see sidewalks added, Jungman said on a tour of the project area Thursday.
Up to 60 trees might be removed to accommodate the new trail, but parks staff will be working with its contractor to make sure as few are removed as possible, Jungman said.
Why is this happening now?
With summer and nice weather fast approaching, Parks Tacoma has fielded questions about why this construction is happening now and not during the winter months.
“There’s a few reasons why. When you have a year duration of construction, you’re going to be closing during the summer at some point, so you just kind of have to rip that Band-Aid,” Jungman said. “The reason for starting now is a lot of the heavy construction that’s happening inside the park does require dry weather in order to do it. If you try to do heavy civil or trench work in the winter, whenever we have a lot of heavy rains, it actually elongates the construction process, makes it more complicated and more expensive. And so it’s actually pretty important that we do some of this work during the dry season.”
Jungman acknowledged the closure will be inconvenient to the public but said Parks Tacoma has done what it can to minimize public impacts and create detours to ensure visitors can get to all the destinations in the park they want to.
While the sidewalk is being built, the city of Tacoma will replace an aged water line along Five Mile Drive, which Jungman said provides essential water supply to the aquarium and zoo, in addition to places like Owen Beach.
This story was originally published April 1, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
