Fish passage project to cause 28-mile detour in Pierce and Kitsap Counties
May 21, 2026, 5:35 AM | Updated: 3:34 pm
Truck drivers will face a 28-mile detour as a fish passage project shuts down SR 3 south of Gorst for two weeks.
State Route 3 will be closed just south of Sunnyslope Road on Saturday, June 13. The road will be closed around the clock until early Monday, June 29 — 16 days of full closures on the primary route from Bremerton to Belfair through Gorst.
The state is replacing the fish culvert at Gorst Creek.
Drivers on southbound SR 3 will be detoured to Sunnyslope Road. Northbound SR 3 will be detoured to Southwest Lake Flora Road. It’s a seven-mile detour. Local access will still be available.
“They’re going to dig out the highway so that entire section of highway will be removed so nobody can get through there, but you can get up to the closure point to get to businesses,” the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) spokesperson Angela Cochran said.
Truck drivers will face a 28-mile backup to get around this closure. The thought of keeping them on the bigger roads in the area made the most sense.
“The truck route is through State Route 302 and State Route 16,” Cochran said. “It is a long detour, but it is the best detour for the trucks.”
Drivers should expect delays around that entire area just north of the Key Peninsula.
“People who use those routes will want to plan some extra time just to make sure that during busy travel times, they can get to their destination on time,” Cochran said.
The contractor had to wait until this time of year to fix this culvert. Gorst Creek actually runs dry over the summer. It’s the best time to get in and install it without impacting fish migration, but the project does have some weather-dependent components that could affect the timeline.
“Construction is very complex,” Cochran said. “Schedules can change, and so if something crazy happens with the weather, that is going to be something that could affect the schedule. We do have to have dry conditions for this work.”
The closure is set to begin at 7 a.m. Saturday, June 13, and last through 7 a.m. on Monday, June 29.
Chris Sullivan is a traffic reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here. Follow KIRO Newsradio traffic on X.
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