Neglected maintenance leads to lane closures on Tacoma Narrows Bridge

Stop me if you have heard this one before. An old bridge in Washington has to either be load-restricted, suffer lane restrictions, or be shut down.

The cause? Decisions made in the Washington legislature to defer funding for maintenance and preservation. Ask the people in Wilkeson how life has been going since the Fairfax Bridge was shut down a year ago after the steel was allowed to deteriorate.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge requires emergency repairs

The original Tacoma Narrows Bridge is the latest victim of underfunding for maintenance and preservation. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) had to shut down two lanes of the westbound bridge, built 76 years ago, after an inspection earlier this week found severe damage to the steel supporting the bridge’s right side.

WSDOT crews found “deterioration on the structure that supports the joint under the two right lanes,” the department said in a prepared statement. Officials stated there will be delays over the next several days.

The two right lanes will be closed until a fix can be completed. The westbound bridge is no stranger to emergency repairs. Issues with the bridge joints led to three emergency lane closures in 2025 and five emergency closures in 2024.

A recent study showed the westbound span needs $180 million in repairs.

The legislature routinely shortchanges the maintenance and preservation budget by nearly $1 billion a year, choosing to spend scarce transportation dollars elsewhere. It has done this for decades, so it’s no coincidence that our aging infrastructure is failing.

Until further notice, only the HOV lane and the left general-purpose lane will be open across the bridge between Tacoma and Gig Harbor. The HOV lane is open to all drivers.

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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