Popular Pierce County footrace crossed now-closed Fairfax Bridge. What now?

A popular Pierce County footrace has had to adjust in the wake of the State Route 165 Carbon River Fairfax Bridge closure.

The Washington State Department of Transportation permanently closed the 103-year-old bridge on April 24 due to safety concerns. The bridge led to key areas of Mount Rainier National Park – including the starting point for the annual, 50-mile Rainier to Ruston Relay.

With only 44 days before the June 7 event, organizers had to scramble to re-route the entire event.

“Runners thought we knew something before they did, but we didn’t, so we started getting some emails and it’s like, ‘What do you do? You have to pivot,’” said Sabrina Seher, the race director. “It’s not ideal to have to basically reroute an entire course for 1,600 runners.”

Rainier to Ruston has been running for 22 years and supports the nonprofit Foothills Rails-to-Trails Coalition. It normally starts from the base of Mount Rainier and finishes at Marine Park on Ruston Way in Tacoma. Now there are 12 segments of the run, starting in Carbonado and running through Wilkeson, South Prairie, Orting, Puyallup, Fife and Tacoma.

Seher said some of the biggest changes they implemented when rerouting the event included adding a segment, Lincoln Loop, in an industrial area of Fife. She also said they added a second segment in Tacoma, which normally only had one.

The first Tacoma segment spans from Lincoln Avenue to War Memorial Park. Runners will then go from War Memorial Park to the finish line near the Lobster Shop on Ruston Way.

“The City of Tacoma, we had a Zoom meeting right away, and they said, ‘We’re very familiar with this race and this organization – we’re happy to support you,’” Seher said.

Seher also said they added an exchange in Orting, which will allow for new parking.

Rerouting the race in 44 days involved a lot of mapping, exploring and calling officials, Seher said.

“There’s basically two of us that went back and forth a lot, looking at maps,” Seher said. “It has to make sense, so runners aren’t confused, and then once we have the ideas, we go back and then we make the maps. Then we send them to whoever we need to talk to and stress the urgency of needing some kind of solution – and apologize for needing an urgent solution.”

Here is a breakdown of all 12 legs.

• Leg 1: Carbonado to Wilkeson, 3.4 miles
• Leg 2: Wilkeson to South Prairie, 4.1 miles
• Leg 3: South Prairie to Crocker, 4.6 miles
• Leg 4: Crocker to Orting, 3.7 miles
• Leg 5: Orting to McMiliin, 3.4 miles
• Leg 6: McMiliin to Meeker, 4.2 miles
• Leg 7: Meeker to Puyallup, 4.3 miles
• Leg 8: Puyallup to Fife, 4.7 miles
• Leg 9: Fife to Lincoln Loop, 3.2 miles
• Leg 10: Lincoln Ave to Tacoma, 2.7 miles
• Leg 11: Tacoma to War Memorial, 6.5 miles
• Leg 12: War Memorial to Ruston, 6.5 miles

Runners can look at an interactive map of the full route at caltopo.com/m/F3M431U. They can also visit the event’s website at rainiertoruston.com.

“We’re just excited, whatever comes out of this,” Seher said. “We are happy to pivot so that runners can still have a great experience.”

This story was originally published May 15, 2025 at 8:00 AM.

Isabela Lund

The News Tribune

253-604-8403

Isabela Lund is the Lead Breaking News Reporter at The News Tribune. She previously covered the greater Puyallup area as the East Pierce County reporter. Before joining The News Tribune in February 2025, she served as the digital content manager at KDRV NewsWatch 12 in Medford, Oregon, and as a reporter for the Stanwood Camano News. She grew up in Kitsap County and graduated from Western Washington University in 2022 with a degree in journalism.