One of Tacoma’s most popular drives to close to cars forever. Here’s why and what it means

A beloved attraction at Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park has fallen victim to Mother Nature and the impacts of climate change.

On Friday, May 20, the outer loop of Five Mile Drive will close to vehicle traffic, according to a memo from Metro Parks executive director Shon Sylvia sent to Tacoma city manager Elizabeth Pauli.

There are no plans to reopen the route to vehicle traffic, according to the memo, which was provided to The News Tribune late last week.

The decision to permanently close the outer loop of Five Mile Drive to vehicles was made after a geotechnical assessment earlier this year identified “ongoing erosion and slope instability impacting the bluff,” particularly near well-known viewpoints, the May 13 memo indicates.

Pedestrian and bike access — which Metro Parks has determined doesn’t pose “the same level of threat to the bluffs as continued vehicle use” — will remain unchanged, at least for the time being, according to the memo.

A public announcement of the closure will occur Tuesday, according to Sylvia, who confirmed Metro Parks’ decision.

Sylvia told The News Tribune that climate change is a significant factor in the conditions at Point Defiance Park.

“We have observed what appears to be an acceleration of erosion of the bluffs, and the roadway is now very close to the edge in some areas, especially the viewpoints,” Sylvia’s memo reads in part. “Our decision to permanently close the drive to vehicles is a direct response to the seeming acceleration of erosion impacted by multiple forces of nature, including heavier rainfall to the top of the peninsula and stronger waves cutting into its slope from below.”

“We are respecting nature’s power and pulling back from the land’s edge to protect the public and will not attempt to engineer controls for the inevitable power of natural forces,” the memo indicates.

What it means for Tacoma

According to Marty Stump, Metro Parks’ chief planning officer, the outer loop of Five Mile Drive has already been closed to buses and other heavy vehicles.

The agency received the geotechnical assessment in January, and staff has spent the last several months reacting and reviewing its findings, Stump said.

Erosion at Point Defiance Park is nothing new. The latest risk assessment is similar to previous reports and master planning efforts — dating back more than a decade — that concluded erosion on the bluffs at Point Defiance Park likely would pose a threat to the outer loop road at some point in the future, Stump told The News Tribune.

While Stump said there isn’t an “imminent risk” of landslides at Point Defiance Park, he said the latest assessment was enough for Metro Parks to decide now was the time to take “immediate action.”

“The erosion of those banks has now encroached to a proximity to their roadway edge that Metro Parks feels that it’s time to discontinue vehicular traffic on that roadway, out of an abundance of caution. We need to protect the park, visitors and patrons first and foremost,” Stump said.

“We do attribute that to the changes in the climate and the weather patterns we have here,” he added.

Stump acknowledged the park district’s decision to permanently close the outer loop to vehicles has the potential to cause anger and disappointment in the community.

Maintaining some level of vehicle access at Point Defiance is important, he said, because that’s how many people — including those with disabilities or mobility issues — access the park.

Stump indicated that Metro Parks is in the early stages of assessing alternative routes for vehicles, including the potential use of public transit and electric trams. In the future that could include rebuilding a road further away from the bluffs, though such a project likely would be challenging and result in a significant loss of trees and forest area, he said.

Another option being explored is developing a bypass service road that’s already in the park, which would allow for vehicle access further away from the bluffs, Stump said.

“At least from our perspective, I would say that rises to a preferred option, knowing everything that we know today,” Stump said. “But we need to tease that out with some additional analysis — like cost considerations (and) environmental impact.”

Either project would be contingent on the availability of funding and the successful completion of the permitting process.

Opening a new road at Point Defiance Park could take “a year and a half to two years, at best, perhaps longer if we run into other issues,” Stump said.

He promised the public would have ample opportunity to weigh in along the way.

“It’s going to take some time, but we are committed to making forward progress on this. We’re not going to sit on this,” Stump said.

The future of Point Defiance

The permanent closure of Five Mile Drive is the end of an era in Tacoma.

For decades, the scenic route has been a go-to destination for Tacoma and Pierce County residents trying to impress someone from out of town, escape from the hustle and bustle of the city, or simply spend time fending off the hungry raccoons who rarely seemed deterred by signs urging visitors not to feed them.

According to Point Defiance’s historic property management plan, Five Mile Drive was originally laid out and graded in 1913, “as the roadway around the entire park beginning at the Pearl Street entrance and ending back at Pearl Street, with paving coming later.”

“The intro­duction of Five Mile Drive improved circulation throughout the park and opened up the remote portions of the park for automobile traffic, including the automobile touring ‘buses’ used in other parks at that time,” the archive indicates.

The closure of Tacoma’s most popular scenic drives provides a jarring example of the visible impact of climate change.

It also provides an opportunity for Tacoma to rethink and rediscover Point Defiance Park, whether it’s ready to or not.

During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Five Mile Drive was closed to vehicle traffic but remained open to pedestrians and cyclists.

More recently, the outer loop has only been open to vehicle traffic Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

In the absence of vehicles, new opportunities arrive at Point Defiance, Stump said.

Maintaining access for as many people as possible will remain a primary objective for Metro Parks — including for the exploration of public transit options — but a future that’s “less auto dependent” isn’t necessarily a bad thing, he said.

“We want some portion of that park to always be available to you if you’re driving a car,” Stump said.

“This road where it is today is an untenable situation. We need to find a solution, and it’s going to take time to do so.”