This $9 million foot bridge will help residents evacuate if Mount Rainier erupts
Construction is underway for a new emergency evacuation bridge in Orting — a bridge that has been 28 years in the making.
According to the City of Orting’s website, construction started in January and is scheduled to end in March 2026. The pedestrian bridge — which start from the Foothills Trail and ends near Rocky Road Northeast over SR 162 — is designed to help pedestrians evacuate the town when Mount Rainier erupts. When the volcano does erupt, a fast-moving lahar will give Orting residents as little as 40 minutes to evacuate.
This bridge is one of two planned to help pedestrians evacuate during a lahar. The second bridge is planned to continue down Rocky Road Northeast and go over the Carbon River and up the hill toward Tehaleh.
Orting resident Barbara Bauml learned about the effort when her daughter came home with a note in 2001.
“I heard [about] it when a note came home in my daughter’s backpack about a meeting that somebody had an idea to do this,” Bauml told The News Tribune Wednesday. “So there was a meeting at city council and somebody had the idea of: ‘Well, let’s build a bridge across the river,’ and I heard this little voice inside my head that said: ‘Jump! Go! Join up!’”
Bauml went on to become one of the founding members of Bridge for Kids, a nonprofit advocating for the pair of bridges. She was a part of the organization for 12 years, and is excited to see progress over two decades later.
“I think this is a real boon for the kids that live on the other side of the highway,” Bauml said. “This has been a wonderful step forward.”
Josh Penner, the mayor of Orting, told The News Tribune Wednesday that the current evacuation route requires pedestrians to walk west on Calistoga Avenue and meet at the county rock quarry near the Washington State Soldiers Home. The first bridge will help residents who live east of SR 162 get to the Soldiers Home faster.
The second bridge is in the design phase, and Penner said there is no timeline for when it will be built. When The News Tribune asked why it took decades for the city to start construction of the first bridge, Penner said it’s because a project of this scale costs a lot of time, money and resources.
“The whole system is pretty ambitious — the idea that you’re going to get 10,000 people out of the valley in less than an hour requires a lot of well-designed capital facilities,” Penner said. “We’ve spent the last eight years finishing up engineering [and] finishing up all the permitting.”
Penner also said that the first bridge will increase safety across an incredibly congested area.
“If you think about the time we have our morning and afternoon commute rush, it’s exactly the time when kids are crossing the crosswalks to school. So, if we can take families off the crosswalks and keep traffic moving, it helps a lot with congestion in that area of 162,” Penner said. “The benefit of this system is going to be far more than a once-in-1,000-years event, it’s going to have benefits every day.”
Penner said construction of the first bridge cost about $9 million. The city’s website says that was a mix of federal and state funds, with the Port of Tacoma also contributing $25,000.
When The News Tribune asked how much the second bridge is estimated to cost, Penner said there is no set cost yet and that “estimates vary widely.”
The News Tribune reported in 2021 that the estimated cost for the second bridge started at $27 million, but construction costs have increased since then.
What’s next?
According to the city’s website, pedestrians will need to walk along a detour route in the right-of-way on Old Pioneer Northwest until the bridge is completed. The detour is between Lane Boulevard Northwest and the crosswalk to Ptarmigan Ridge Elementary.
Lane closures will be allowed between 9:15 a.m. and 2 p.m. every day until construction is completed, with single-lane closures already planned for Feb. 27 and 28 so that crews can move equipment across the highway. Residents can stay up-to-date on lane closures by visiting the city’s website and social media accounts.
The city will also be hosting a golden shovel ceremony at the construction site at 11 a.m. on March 15.
Bauml said that while she is thrilled about this milestone, there is still much more to do — specifically, constructing the second bridge.
“It takes time to build a bridge and we can’t do it if Mount Rainier starts getting unsettled. This needs to be part of the long-term plan of the City of Orting and Pierce County and working in tandem with our federal representatives,” Bauml said. “It’s just really important that it keep moving forward with the next generation.”
This story was originally published February 27, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
