Washingtonians overwhelmingly want WSDOT to replace the State Route 165 Carbon River/Fairfax Bridge in Pierce County

Voters across Washington want the state Department of Transportation to construct a new bridge across the Carbon River in rural Pierce County to restore vehicular access to the northeast corner of Mount Rainier National Park, the Northwest Progressive Institute’s most recent Civic Heartbeat survey of the electorate has found.

56% of a representative sample of six hundred likely November 2025 voters surveyed last month by Emerson College Polling said they wanted WSDOT to build a new bridge spanning the Carbon River to replace the permanently closed Fairfax Bridge. Only 15% wanted to demolish the bridge without building a replacement.

29% said they were not sure.

The bridge has been barred to all traffic — pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicles — since mid-April of this year for safety reasons. “Preliminary findings from recent inspections of the bridge revealed new deterioration of steel supports of the more than century-old span,” WSDOT explained in a statement announcing its decision to close the bridge.

https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2025/11/washingtonians-overwhelmingly-want-wsdot-to-replace-the-state-route-165-carbon-river-fairfax-bridge-in-pierce-county.html