Will state auditor investigate Pierce County bridge closure? Here’s what we know
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- State auditor will review WSDOT handling after Carbon River Fairfax Bridge closure.
- WSDOT records show recurring corrosion, paint loss and reduced load ratings since 2008.
- Options to address bridge closure range $70M–$160M, three to six years.
A 103-year-old bridge in Pierce County permanently closed in April. The state will be investigating how it was handled.
The Washington State Department of Transportation permanently closed the Carbon River Fairfax Bridge – which is located near milepost 11.5 on state Route 165 – on April 22. The closure was due to deterioration and safety concerns.
After the closure, the bridge’s absence has had a ripple effect across the area. The bridge was the only way for the public to easily access key areas of Mount Rainier National Park, such as Tolmie Peak, Mowich Lake and Spray Park. Businesses in the nearby towns of Wilkeson and Carbonado have struggled due to the lack of tourist traffic, and residents isolated on the other side of the bridge in the Carbon Canyon have previously spoken to The News Tribune about the struggles of living across a “dead-end” bridge.
Jayme Peloli is a member of the Wilkeson Town Council, the town’s mayor-elect and the head of the Wilkeson Historical District. On Oct. 29, Peloli posted on social media and said that WSDOT repeatedly neglected to make critical repairs to the bridge, which led to the closure.
“The Fairfax Bridge is not just a failure of steel, it’s a failure of policy,” Peloli wrote in a Facebook post. “... For nearly two decades, state agencies documented the ongoing structural deterioration of the Fairfax Bridge — corrosion, section loss, failed coatings, and repeated warnings of an imminent need for rehabilitation. Despite these findings, no preservation funding was ever allocated.”
Peloli has asked the Washington State Auditor’s Office (WSAO) to investigate WSDOT’s lack of repairs to the bridge, saying it shows a deep-rooted issue with maintaining rural bridges.
The WSAO confirmed to The News Tribune that they will be investigating the way WSDOT handled the bridge, but the findings from that investigation will not be released any time soon.
“We will consider the issue for review in our next accountability audit of the state Department of Transportation; however, that work is not scheduled to begin for about a year,” Adam Wilson, spokesperson for WSAO, wrote in an email to The News Tribune. “So, we won’t have any more information or findings on this in the near future.”
What was wrong with the bridge?
The bridge, which opened in 1921, had steel supports that were deteriorating. In a July 2024 blog post, WSDOT said the bridge had not been painted since 1988.
Maintenance reports obtained by The News Tribune show that rust was a concern as far back as 2008.
“There is widespread peeling paint, especially on the bottom surfaces of the main arch members and on the horizontal surfaces,” a WSDOT inspector wrote in a maintenance report on July 18, 2008. “There are many small rust blooms with minor pitting. The steel arches and compression struts have areas of thin paint with moss growth and rust blooms on rivets and between plates.”
Reports in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2015 bring up similar issues.
In 2013, WSDOT prohibited commercial vehicles from crossing the bridge.
In its maintenance report from March 29, 2018, a WSDOT inspector noted “failing paint and active corrosion with up to 100% section loss.”
Reports in 2020, 2022 and 2024 brought up similar concerns, saying the section loss was spreading.
WSDOT reduced the bridge’s load rating three times between 2009 and 2024, according to a 2025 news release. In 2024, they reduced the load rating to 16,000 pounds, or 8 tons.
Why did WSDOT not make repairs?
Cara Mitchell, spokesperson for WSDOT, told The News Tribune the issue was a lack of funding.
“The State Route 165 Carbon River/Fairfax Bridge is competing with many other aging bridges across the state. WSDOT receives funding through the state’s Transportation Budget. WSDOT is given limited funding for preserving infrastructure like bridges, and our repair and replacement needs far exceed what we are funded for. This work has been underfunded for decades,” Mitchell wrote in an email to The News Tribune. “As of June 2025, 342 WSDOT-owned bridges (10% of the total) are 80 years old or older and bridges are designed for a 75-year life. Many of them desperately need preservation work. That is why Governor Ferguson has made it clear that his upcoming budget will make greater investments in preservation. We need to start making up for decades of inadequate funding.”
Mitchell noted that as of June 2025, there were:
- 33 bridges that need replacement and 35 bridges that need “major rehabilitation.”
- 4 bridges were being replaced and 4 bridges were being rehabilitated.
- 45 steel bridges were due for painting, and 60 were past due. 4 steel bridges were being painted.
- 83 concrete bridge decks were due for repair, and 56 more were past due. 7 concrete bridge decks were being repaired.
“We will continue to work with lawmakers, state leaders and partners to share these needs and seek solutions,” Mitchell wrote in an email.
In June, The News Tribune asked Mitchell how much funding the agency would have needed to paint the bridge and keep it in working condition. She said she didn’t know.
“I don’t [know] at this time,” Mitchell said in June. “As the maintenance and preservation work gets deferred on, there’s inflationary cost – so the cost changes.”
Peloli told The News Tribune that she thinks the situation is indicative of a broader issue across the state, where rural bridges get neglected in favor of bridges in higher-traffic areas, regardless of how badly a bridge is falling apart.
“I don’t know any other bridge where 40 residents are living behind it,” Peloli told The News Tribune. “It’s an equitable issue of how they’re prioritizing these bridges and who has oversight into that.”
Peloli said her goal when reaching out to the auditor’s office was to prevent another Fairfax Bridge situation.
“[I want to] make sure this doesn’t keep happening to other bridges and state infrastructure that gets left behind, essentially,” Peloli said.
What are WSDOT’s plans for the bridge?
In August, WSDOT released the results of its $1.5 million planning study, outlining two options it is pursuing after permanently closing the bridge. One option is to build a new bridge north of the old one. The other option is to tear down the old bridge and not build a new one.
WSDOT does not currently have funding for either option; all of the agency’s estimated time frames would start from whenever officials are able to identify funding.
According to the study, the option to build a new bridge would cost about $160 million and take six years.
The option to tear down the existing bridge and not build a new one – permanently closing state Route 165 south of Carbonado – would cost $70 million to $80 million and take about three years, according to the study. The study estimates it would cost about $46.6 million to compensate private landowners who would lose access to their property.
News Tribune archives contributed to this report.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include comments from Cara Mitchell, a spokesperson for WSDOT.
This story was originally published November 10, 2025 at 5:15 AM.
