Bridge for Kids | |
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Coordinates | 47°06′35″N122°12′49″W / 47.10972°N 122.21361°W Coordinates: 47°06′35″N122°12′49″W / 47.10972°N 122.21361°W |
Crosses | Carbon River |
Locale | Rocky Road NE, Orting, Washington |
Official name | Orting Emergency Evacuation Bridge |
Characteristics | |
Design | Suspension bridge with uneven footings |
Total length | 540 feet (160 m) |
Width | 20–30 feet (6.1–9.1 m) |
Clearance below | 18.5 feet (5.6 m) |
Location | |
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The Bridge for Kids is a proposed bridge across the Carbon River in Orting, Washington, about a mile upstream of where it joins the Puyallup River. It would provide an emergency evacuation route for school children to escape a future lahar flow from Mount Rainier, consisting of an up to 10-meter (33 ft) high flood of mud, rock and boulders. [1] [2] As of 2016 [update] , the $40 million bridge was still in the planning phase. [2]
Lahars from the Cascade Volcanoes are historically common. [3] [4] Orting is situated in the floodplain of the Puyallup River and on top of the debris field of past lahars from Mount Rainier, [5] including the Osceola Mudflow. The Osceola Mudflow followed an eruption 5,600 years ago that left a horseshoe-shaped crater in Mount Rainier comparable to that of the 1980 eruption of Mount Saint Helens and deposited debris across a 212-square-mile (550 km2) area as far as Commencement Bay on Puget Sound. [3] Another event, the Electron Mudflow, produced a lahar that was 30 meters (98 ft) deep when it reached the Puget Sound lowland. [3]
The current lahar risk is considered extremely high in Orting, [6] with an estimated one in seven chance of a catastrophic event in a resident's lifetime. [1] Land use planning and emergency management in Orting differs from that in surrounding Pierce County, allowing development and location of schools in this area. [5]
The Mount Rainier Volcano Lahar Warning System has existed since 2000 to give residents in high-risk areas some advance warning of an approaching lahar, but evacuation drills in Orting have shown that motorized transportation (school buses) is not a viable option for removing students from the lahar zone due to road congestion and time factors. [7]
Evacuation planning at Orting schools started in 1995, and it was then that the insufficiency of infrastructure began to be an issue. [1] As of 2016 [update] , drills were showing student evacuation times via an existing 2 miles (3.2 km) foot route to still be in excess of the notification window. [2]
A yearlong design process was started by Pierce County in consultation with Washington State Department of Transportation and other agencies and a citizens' group in January, 2009, after considering other evacuation means such as pathways and a tunnel under the river. [8] The bridge would be 20–30 feet (6.1–9.1 m) wide and accommodate 12,000 people in 30 minutes. Orting is estimated to have a 40 minute evacuation window after the Mount Rainier Volcano Lahar Warning System is activated. [7]
Preliminary design renderings from 2014 show a pedestrian suspension bridge with stairsteps approaching a lower pier, and another pier 150 feet (46 m) higher on a ridge above Orting, near the community of Tehaleh. [2] [9] [10] Part of the bridge deck would contain stairs and lie at a 40% slope. [10]
Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It lies 52 miles (83 km) northeast of Portland, Oregon, and 98 miles (158 km) south of Seattle. Mount St. Helens takes its English name from that of the British diplomat Lord St Helens, a friend of explorer George Vancouver who surveyed the area in the late 18th century. The volcano is part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, a segment of the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Pierce County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 921,130, up from 795,225 in 2010, making it the second-most populous county in Washington, behind King County, and the 60th-most populous in the United States. The county seat and largest city is Tacoma. Formed out of Thurston County on December 22, 1852, by the legislature of Oregon Territory, it was named for U.S. President Franklin Pierce. Pierce County is in the Seattle metropolitan area.
Orting is a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 9,041 at the 2020 census.
Puyallup is a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States, located about 10 miles southeast of Tacoma and 35 miles south of Seattle. It had a population of 42,973 at the 2020 census. The city's name comes from the Puyallup Tribe of Native Americans and means "the generous people". Puyallup is also home to the Washington State Fair, the state's largest fair.
Sumner is a city in northern Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,621 at the 2020 census. Nearby cities include Puyallup to the west, Auburn to the north, and Bonney Lake to the east.
A lahar is a violent type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water. The material flows down from a volcano, typically along a river valley.
The Cowlitz River is a river in the state of Washington in the United States, a tributary of the Columbia River. Its tributaries drain a large region including the slopes of Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, and Mount St. Helens.
Glacier Peak or Dakobed is the most isolated of the five major stratovolcanoes of the Cascade Volcanic Arc in the U.S state of Washington. Located in the Glacier Peak Wilderness in Mount Baker–Snoqualmie National Forest, the volcano is visible from the west in Seattle, and from the north in the higher areas of eastern suburbs of Vancouver such as Coquitlam, New Westminster and Port Coquitlam. The volcano is the fourth tallest peak in Washington state, and not as much is known about it compared to other volcanoes in the area. Local Native Americans have recognized Glacier Peak and other Washington volcanoes in their histories and stories. When American explorers reached the region, they learned basic information about surrounding landforms, but did not initially understand that Glacier Peak was a volcano. Positioned in Snohomish County, the volcano is only 70 miles (110 km) northeast of downtown Seattle. From locations in northern Seattle and northward, Glacier Peak is closer than the more famous Mount Rainier (Tahoma), but as Glacier Peak is set farther into the Cascades and almost 4,000 feet (1,200 m) shorter, it is much less noticeable than Mount Rainier.
The Puyallup River is a river in the U.S. state of Washington. About 45 miles (72 km) long, it is formed by glaciers on the west side of Mount Rainier. It flows generally northwest, emptying into Commencement Bay, part of Puget Sound. The river and its tributaries drain an area of about 948 square miles (2,460 km2) in Pierce County and southern King County.
The Armero tragedy occurred following the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz stratovolcano in Tolima, Colombia, on November 13, 1985. The volcano's eruption after 69 years of dormancy caught nearby towns unaware, even though volcanological organizations had warned the government to evacuate the area after they detected volcanic activity two months earlier.
Tehaleh, formerly known as Cascadia, is a master-planned unincorporated community to the south of Bonney Lake in Pierce County, Washington, United States. Construction began in 2005 with an estimated timeline for completion of 20 years. The town was designed by Patrick Kuo, who had purchased the land in 1991. Included in the original plan for Cascadia were 6,500 homes, a commercial district, an industrial park, schools, and recreational parkland for residents to enjoy. Construction halted in 2008, prior to the construction of any homes or commercial properties. After foreclosure proceedings in 2010, Homestreet Bank repossessed much of Kuo's land, intending to find another developer.
The Cascade Volcanoes are a number of volcanoes in a volcanic arc in western North America, extending from southwestern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California, a distance of well over 700 miles (1,100 km). The arc formed due to subduction along the Cascadia subduction zone. Although taking its name from the Cascade Range, this term is a geologic grouping rather than a geographic one, and the Cascade Volcanoes extend north into the Coast Mountains, past the Fraser River which is the northward limit of the Cascade Range proper.
Mount Rainier, also known as Tahoma, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest. The mountain is located in Mount Rainier National Park about 59 miles (95 km) south-southeast of Seattle. With a summit elevation of 14,411 ft (4,392 m), it is the highest mountain in the U.S. state of Washington and the Cascade Range, the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States, and the tallest in the Cascade Volcanic Arc.
The Mount Rainier Volcano Lahar Warning System consists of two separate components, operating in tandem: Acoustic Flow Monitors (AFM) and the All Hazard Alert Broadcast (AHAB) sirens. The AFM system was developed by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in 1998 and is now maintained by Pierce County Emergency Management. The purpose of the warning system is to assist in the evacuation of residents in the river valleys around Mount Rainier, a volcano in Washington, in the event of a lahar. Pierce County works in partnership with the USGS, the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN), Washington Military Department's Emergency Management Division, and South Sound 9-1-1 to monitor and operate the system.
Alderton is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 2,893 at the 2010 census. The community is located in the Puyallup River Valley between the cities of Sumner and Orting.
The Electron Hydroelectric Project, originally known as the Puyallup Project, is a hydroelectric power plant operated by Electron Hydro LLC on the Puyallup River in Pierce County, Washington. It generates 22 megawatts (30,000 hp) of electricity and is operated and maintained by approximately 20 full-time employees.
Lake Kapowsin is a lake in Pierce County, Washington, about halfway between Tacoma on Puget Sound, and Mount Rainier in the Cascade Mountains. The lake is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long and 0.15–0.5 miles (0.24–0.80 km) wide, lying in a channel formed by meltwater from the Puget lobe of the Vashon glacier during the Pleistocene glaciation. A small island, Jaybird Island, lies in the northern half of the lake. As indicated by a drowned forest in the lake and other evidence, the Puyallup River was inundated about 550 years ago by a lahar from Mount Rainier called the Electron Mudflow. The mudflow partially filled the channel and blocked Ohop Creek's outlet, forming present-day Lake Kapowsin.
The Osceola Mudflow, also known as the Osceola Lahar, was a lahar in the U.S. state of Washington that descended from the summit and northeast slope of Mount Rainier during a period of eruptions about 5,600 years ago. It traveled down the west and main forks of the White River, passed the location of present-day Enumclaw then reached Puget Sound near present-day Auburn. The Osceola collapse formed a 1.8 km (1.1 mi) wide horseshoe-shaped crater, open to the northeast, almost the same size as the crater produced by the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Most of the Osceola crater has been filled in by subsequent lava eruptions, most recently about 2,200 years ago.
For other uses, see Electron (disambiguation).
Lahars are common at Mount Rainier...
Mount Rainier has produced major lahars every 500 to 1,000 years and smaller flows more frequently. The most recent major lahar to reach the Puget Lowland was the Electron Mudflow about 600 years ago. It was more than 100 feet thick at the community of Electron and as much as 20 feet thick at Orting.
Life for Orting's 8,000 residents depended on predicting what would one day come roaring down the slopes of Mount Rainier, 30 miles away. They had sirens for lava, sensors for earthquakes and alarms for the volcanic mudflow that geologists believed would one day bury the town.