Community Transportation

Fox Island Bridge open house focuses on Towhead Island and proposed roundabout

Posted on September 24th, 2026 By: Ted Kenney

A crowd of about 240 turned out on Wednesday, Sept. 23, for an informational open house on the Fox Island Bridge replacement project. The Pierce County Planning & Public Works Department hosted the event at the Fox Island United Church of Christ.

The event offered information on a wide range of project details, both in a formal presentation, a Q&A session and through the opportunity to mingle in the lobby, where project team members staffed multiple information stations.

The presentation focused on two topics that have sparked a greater public reaction than the county initially expected. One is the plan to replace the intersection of Fox Island Bridge Road and Warren Drive on the east side of the bridge. And specifically, whether to replace it with a roundabout.

The other is the future of Towhead Island, a landmass making up part of the bridge causeway that provides beach access and a boat launch (albeit a decaying one). It would become inaccessible under one bridge replacement scenario the county is considering.

The shore of Towhead Island. Photo by Ted Kenney

Advisory panel

The county also disclosed it has created a community advisory panel for the bridge replacement project. The five members, who were recruited and picked by Planning & Public Works, will relay public concerns and sentiments to the department, said Danielle Winski, a county communications specialist. The panelists will also receive information from the county that will help them educate the public, she said.

The commission’s members are John Ohlson, a longtime volunteer and community leader who runs a Facebook page and website serving Fox Island; realtor Taryn Thibaut; Paul (PJ) Lauriello, who owns island-based bike business PJ’s Pedalworks; Patrick Phillips, division chief of prevention and spokesperson for Gig Harbor Fire & Medic One; and Craig McLaughlin, board member of FICRA (formerly the Fox Island Community & Recreation Association).

Another new detail: Previously, the county predicted that 5 to 10 parcels would be “impacted” by the project (meaning anything from home loss to the county’s temporary use of property during construction to view loss or impairment). That number increased to 6 to 11 properties.

$337 million to $425 million project

Fox Island’s bridge to the mainland, built in 1954, is reaching the end of its useful life. A 2013 study determined the span is “structurally deficient.” Pierce County is planning its replacement. The projected cost is huge, ranging from $337.3 million to $425.3 million, for a crossing that serves an island with fewer than 4,000 residents.

A Type Size and Location Study released in February laid out four alternative solutions:

A new span of approximately 2,000 feet on the east side of the existing bridge.
A new 2,000-foot bridge hugging the west side of the current span.
A new bridge, about 3,000 feet long, that arcs westward as it crosses Hale Passage west of the current bridge.
A “no build” or deferral option in which the old bridge is patched up for as long as 20 years before replacement.

In any replacement scenario, the county must redesign the intersection on the bridge’s mainland side, where the curving Fox Island Bridge Road meets Warren Drive, said Brian Bombardier, a transportation engineer with engineering firm HDR. (The firm serves as Pierce County’s engineers on the project.)

A crowd of about 200 people turned out for an open house on the Fox Island Bridge on Wednesday, Sept. 23. Photo by Ted Kenney

In the new junction, Fox Island Bridge Road will approach Warren Drive at a right angle. It will consist of either a roundabout or a “tee intersection” controlled by a traffic signal or stop sign, Bombardier said.

Towhead Island

A flyer from the county, distributed at the event, showed that a roundabout would be less expensive, safer and less likely to cause traffic backups than a tee intersection. It would not increase the number of parcels impacted.

“I must stress that the roundabout being proposed is very small,” with a single lane that is adequate for handling a low traffic flow, Bombardier said. It will be “very different from the Burnham Drive interchange up in Gig Harbor that nobody likes.”

HDR consultant Erik Martin told the crowd that Towhead Island warranted their attention because its fate is “is one of the key factors differentiating” the three replacement alternatives.

Martin said the federal Bureau of Land Management owns the island, which can seem like a mere bulge in the existing causeway. Pierce County leased the island in the 1970s and built the boat launch, but declined to renew the lease in the 1990s and does not maintain the launch.

Towhead Island at the time the Fox Island Bridge was built.

The launch site has deteriorated but some still use it as an “informal launch for small watercraft,” Martin said. The island is also a popular locale for beach access — and what some neighbors have criticized as noisy bonfires and beach parties. The flow of vehicles into and out of Towhead Island has been knocked for disrupting traffic.

Two schools of thought

Public input regarding Towhead Island access falls into opposing camps, county engineer Letticia Neal said. “Some want it gone. Some want it to stay.”

Bridge replacement will deliver a victory to one of these factions. The 2,000-foot alternative east of the existing bridge, and the 3,000-foot replacement on the west side, would preserve Towhead Island and even create a cul-de-sac there to accommodate traffic. But the 2,000-foot replacement west of the existing bridge would eliminate access to the island.

Martin emphasized that even if a new bridge preserves access to Towhead Island, neither Pierce County nor Peninsula Metropolitan Park District intend to “own” or improve the site.

Property values

In the Q&A session, an attendee asked how the county is going to take care of residents facing uncertain property values and sales prospects because of the project.

Neal responded, “we are moving as quickly as we can toward a solution” that will remove the uncertainty surrounding the possible bridge replacement.

At least one owner of a home next to the Fox Island Bridge has filed for a reduction of property taxes on his home due to the bridge replacement project — only to have the Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer’s office deny the request.

Marty Campbell, the elected Assessor-Treasurer, attended the open house and said his office is working to come up with solutions to help such property owners.

The assessor-treasurer’s job “is to provide certainty, and [the Fox Island bridge replacement] is the most uncertain thing we have in the county,” Campbell said.

“We are working internally and with our partners in the state to find similar situations elsewhere,” and hope to model a solution on those used successfully in other locales.

However, he would not offer an expected timeframe during which his office would introduce such a solution.

Towhead Island, near Fox Island. Photo by Ted Kenney