As usual, Lewis County will have its fair share of road closures this summer as the Lewis County Public Works Department takes advantage of in-stream work windows to repair bridges, culverts and roadways around the county.
Last month, the Lewis County Board of Commissioners voted to approve three road closures that will stretch through the spring months, including two that have already gone into effect. According to Lewis County Engineer Wes Anderson, a fourth closure is likely to go into effect in mid-July and extend into the fall.
Closures for bridge or overpass repairs are already in effect for Ceres Hill Road and Koontz Road where it intersects with Interstate 5. Meade Hill Road off of U.S. Highway 12 near Glenoma will be closed starting Monday, April 6, and a portion of Bishop Road near Oxley is expected to close in early summer.
Ceres Hill Road
The county is closing Ceres Hill Road in order to make repairs to the Ceres Hill Road Bridge that has been a point of local concern since a 2022 inspection of the bridge found cracks in the structure.
According to a temporary closure order approved by the Lewis County Board of Commissioners, the closure began on Monday, March 23, and will extend through the spring and most of the summer. It’s expected to be reopened by Saturday, Aug. 15. The road will be open to local traffic from both ends up to the point of closure at the Ceres Hill Road Bridge. Local drivers will need to take state Route 6 to Meskill and use Meskill Road to access the portions of Ceres Hill Road north and west of the closure or access Ceres Hill Road where it connects to Bunker Creek Road in Fayette.
This is the second summer in a row that the Ceres Hill Road Bridge will be closed as the county attempts to repair cracks by filling them and stabilizing the bridge using reinforced polymer sheets bonded to the structure with epoxy. Anderson said last year around the same time that the repairs to the bridge would likely extend into the summer of 2026.
Koontz Road
The county officially closed the Koontz road overpass where it crosses Interstate 5 earlier this week on Monday, March 30, for repairs.
The Washington state Department of Transportation is working to repair the portion of the overpass over southbound I-5 after an oversized load struck the span in 2024.
Koontz Road will remain open to local access on either side of the closure but will remain closed at the point of closure. The overpass is expected to reopen by the end of June.
Local drivers looking to cross Interstate 5 while driving on Koontz Road will need to head south to cross the interstate where it meets U.S. Highway 12 or north to cross the highway where it meets state Route 508 not far from Napavine to the west.
Meade Hill Road
The county will close Meade Hill Road near Glenoma starting on Monday in order to repair damage from a landslide and stabilize the nearby land. The road will be closed for a stretch of road just under a half mile long that crosses Rainey Creek, a tributary of the Cowlitz River that feeds into the nearby reservoir, Riffe Lake. It will remain open to local access on either side of the closure up to the work area.
The local work is expected to be completed by the end of July. Locals looking to cross the creek and access the eastern part of Meade Hill Road from Glenoma will have to take Glenoma and Anderson Roads from where they meet U.S. Highway 12.
Bishop Road
County crews will close off a portion of Bishop Road where it crosses Berwick Creek between Maurin Road to the north and Oxley to the south. The project will replace an outdated culvert and repair the road at the same time improving fish passage through the local stream. The Road will be open to local access from Labree Road to the northwest and Rush Road to the southeast. Drivers, however, will not be able to pass through the work zone at milepost 2.8 where the road crosses the small stream.
The work on Bishop Road is the latest of those that will close roads in the county this spring and summer and is expected to begin July 13. The road is expected to reopen after construction is completed no later than Oct. 15.
