The long-closed road to Mount St. Helens is coming back
Nearly three years after a landslide wiped out the main road to the most iconic viewpoint at Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, construction on a new bridge is set to begin next week - restoring visitor access to the stark volcanic landscape and ever-shifting blast zone of the most active volcano in the West.
In May 2023, a landslide sent more than 300,000 cubic yards of debris tearing down the hillside, burying the state highway in rock, mud and ice and destroying the Spirit Lake Outlet Bridge, forcing a closure of the only road to the Johnston Ridge Observatory.
In the immediate aftermath, visitors stranded by the event were rescued by helicopter, and transportation crews carved out a temporary, one-lane bypass to recover stranded vehicles and restore limited access for agencies. But the fix didn't last. Winter conditions caused the road's underlying culvert to fail just four months later, underscoring the difficulty of shaping the volcanic terrain.
What followed was a longer, quieter disruption. For much of the past three years, the closure of the road to Johnston Ridge has reshaped how people experience Mount St. Helens, which erupted in 1980. Early messaging around the landslide left many would-be visitors crossing the volcano off their road trip itineraries, and visitation dropped sharply in the following year.
"It really made it sound like Mount St. Helens was closed," Alyssa Hoyt, co-executive director of the nonprofit Mount St. Helens Institute, told SFGATE.
While there are other places to view and learn about the 8,000-foot-tall mountain, the observatory was the premier interpretive site. Without the front-row view, visitors dwindled and programs were forced to adapt. Guided hikes that once began at the observatory were rerouted to accessible trailheads, and volunteers filled gaps left by reduced Forest Service staffing in the region.
"For some, the quiet gave them a more intimate nature experience without the crowds," Hoyt said, "but we're looking forward to that road being open and getting the community back to St. Helens."
That day may still be months off, but the rebuilding process is finally underway.
The Washington State Department of Transportation has awarded a $2.63 million contract to construct a new two-lane roadway and a permanent bridge designed for the area's unstable ground and harsh weather. The replacement span will be similar in width to the original but slightly longer, built as a single steel-girder structure meant to withstand future slides. Completion is slated for fall 2026.
Sarah Hannon-Nein, a spokesperson with the department, told SFGATE that the long wait time for a fix reflects the complexity of the project.
"In a situation like this, you want to create a permanent solution, not a temporary fix," she said. "The challenging terrain and the changing conditions of a volcanic landscape made the engineering complicated - we want this to be built to last."
Even when the road is complete, the return of visitors will need to wait. The Forest Service will need time to assess and repair the facility after years of limited access. Officials expect the observatory itself to reopen in 2027.
"It's been some time since they've been able to access it, so it's hard to tell what work the observatory will need," Hannon-Nein said. "Once they're able to start work to restore power and communications and other critical systems at the observatory, then they'll be able to look at bringing back public access."
The earliest visitors will be able to return to the observatory is next spring. When they do, a familiar experience will return: interpretive exhibits, ranger programs and a theater presentation that immerses visitors in the story of the 1980 eruption. Volunteers will again staff the ridge, helping visitors make sense of a landscape that still looks like it was blasted yesterday.
"We hope that news of the bridge work will encourage people to come visit the volcano," Hoyt said. "It's such a unique place and there's so much to learn. We're just excited to get out there again."
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