Cowlitz County plans Toutle bypass after erosion destroys road
The Cowlitz County Board of Commissioners started reviewing bids Wednesday for contractors to work on a planned bypass for a failing section of Toutle Park Road.
A public hearing on the new road is scheduled for 9:45 a.m. Tuesday in the County Administration Building at 207 4th Ave N., Kelso.
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Cowlitz County Public Works Director Mike Moss said the board also expects to award a contract Tuesday.
Toutle Park Road was partially closed near the Cowlitz County Public Shooting Range in March due to significant erosion from the nearby Toutle River. The plan is to build a new road from Burma Road to Toutle Park Road, called Sediment Road, that bypasses the damaged section.
Moss said there has not been much change to the state of the riverbank since March, but more erosion is expected this fall. One lane of the road remains closed, but it is still passable, he said.
Losing Toutle Park Road would cut off access to the shooting range, private property owners and county property, according to a Cowlitz County Department of Public Works report.
Moss told The Daily News in March that repairing the existing road was not feasible because the river would continue to erode the bank.
The initial estimated price for the project is $1,690,906. That includes about $1.5 million for construction costs, $100,000 for right-of-way acquisition and $90,000 for engineering.
The new road is planned to be about 2,600 feet long and have a minimum right-of-way width of 50 feet.
The affected right-of-way areas include part of a property owned by private citizens and parts of three Weyerhaeuser properties. An engineer's report stated that the county had acquired all necessary rights-of-way.
Toutle Park Road bypass map
A map shows the proposed location of a bypass between Toutle Park Road and Burma Road. The planned 2,600-foot road would be named Sediment Road.
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This story was originally published July 2, 2026 at 6:27 PM.