Community Education Police & Fire

Local prom-goers were stuck in Tacoma when teens scaled the Narrows Bridge

Parents waited anxiously on the night of Saturday, June 6, as their teenagers sat in a snarl of traffic trying to cross the Narrows Bridge after prom.

Peninsula and Gig Harbor high schools both celebrated at proms in Tacoma on Saturday. The dances ended around 11 p.m., but the Washington State Patrol closed the westbound bridge at approximately 9:50 p.m.

Two teenagers had climbed the bridge, prompting the closure.

Drivers attempting to go west on Highway 16 encountered gridlock, including many local students. Traffic was at a standstill by the time the teens left prom and tried to return to Gig Harbor.

Drained phones, panicked parents

Parents expected their kids home around 11:30 p.m., but some didn’t arrive until well after 1 a.m. Some parents couldn’t even get in touch with their kids, said Holly Broadbent, parent of a Gig Harbor High School senior.

“Several kids in my son’s group didn’t have phone chargers with them, and they had been using their phones all night at prom,” Broadbent said. “Parents couldn’t reach them. It was so stressful.”

The Washington State Patrol closed the westbound lanes of the Narrows Bridge on June 6, when two teenage boys climbed the bridge. Prom-going students from both Peninsula and Gig Harbor high schools were caught in traffic backups. Photo courtesy of Kameron Watts, WSP

The westbound bridge reopened at approximately 11:30 p.m., according to WSP, but it took some time for the traffic backups to clear.

The two teenage climbers seem to scaled the bridge for the thrill of it. Troopers said they were not in distress.

Climbers arrested

“They were two males, ages 16 and 17,” said WSP Trooper Kameron Watts, a public information officer. “When law enforcement arrived at the top, they were bunkering down under the catwalks, which made it a more hazardous situation with no stable grounding, and the wind gusts.”

The two made it all the way to the top of the bridge, with the swift waters of the Puget Sound swirling 500 feet below. Winds that night were blowing south and southeast at between 1 and 2 mph with gusts up to 3 and 4 mph on the bridge deck, according to the National Weather Service.

Troopers used the bridge’s service elevator to reach the teens, whom they arrested. The boys face charges of criminal trespass and obstructing law enforcement.