City of Centralia’s repair of five local bridges in Yelm nears completion

Over a year after the City of Centralia unanimously voted to repair five bridges it maintains across the Centralia Canal in Yelm, one Yelm resident is thrilled to see the work on the bridges continue to progress to near completion.

Anne Wahrmund, property owner of 20-acres between the Yelm Hydropower Electric Project and Centralia Canal, told the Nisqually Valley News that she’s thrilled to see the five bridges be strengthened and rated to allow emergency vehicles like ambulances and fire trucks to pass over.

In 2023, Sergent Engineers evaluated six bridges by request of Southeast Thurston Fire Authority (SETFA), and as a result, all six bridges were rated at 13 to 15 tons. Following the rating, SETFA sent out letters to local residents to notify them that their services may be reduced as a result.

City staff repaired one of the six bridges and then in August of 2024, Centralia City Council voted to approve a contract amendment with Sargent Engineers to evaluate and provide options to strengthen the bridges.

On Tuesday, April 22, 2025, the City of Centralia unanimously approved to repair the five remaining bridges it maintains across the Centralia Canal in Yelm through the Yelm Hydroproject. Following the vote of the Centralia CIty Council, the cost to repair the remaining five bridges was $1 million.

According to Wahrmund, one of the bridges located south of SR 507 across the canal had failed enough to where SETFA was no longer able to drive their ambulances or fire trucks across it.

“They found that heavy equipment could not go across that particular bridge. It was a failure that Centralia worked on right away to fix that bridge,” Wahrmund said. “Out of that, the fire chief requested that Centralia verifies the load limits on the other bridges they have that are crossing the canal. There are five vehicle-crossing bridges that are toward the City of Yelm from 507 and between 507 and the power station of the Centralia Power Canal. They found those five bridges’ load limits had to be reduced because of the quality of the bridges. They were too low for heavy loads.”

She added that along with the emergency fire equipment, utility vehicles for propane and water were also no longer able to cross this specific bridge.

After the City of Centralia engaged with Sergent Engineers in Aug. 2023, Wahrmund said she, along with other property owners in the region, were notified of the new load limits for the five bridges.

Additionally, Matt Russell, SETFA assistant fire marshall, notified all of the surrounding property owners that the agency’s ability to combat fires and provide emergency services to their properties had been significantly reduced because of the new load limits.

“By the late summer of 2024, we managed to, with the help of Tara Combs and her husband, Zach, get together at their large horse arena — which is across one of the bridges — and we gathered as many of the property owners who are affected as possible,” Wahrmund said.
At this point, Wahrmund and her neighbors just wanted to come up with a solution to the issue and felt they needed full fire support at their properties. She claimed the property owners had the encouragement of Russell to try to see what could be done to improve the bridges while SETFA worked to find new avenues of support to the properties.

Wahrmund said she was able to get in contact with the City of Centralia, specifically Amy Buckler, who served as deputy city manager at that point in time. Once it became clear that Centralia was the owner of those bridges and that it had the responsibility to keep those in good condition, the ball for repairs officially began to roll.

“Every step along the way, people were working together,” Wahrmund said. “Both the property owners, the fire authority and City of Centralia and the city council there,” Wahrmund said. “Norm Chapman was there as mayor during the project. There was a project that was started to actually have a contractor come in and rebuild all five bridges.”

As of July 9, 2026, Wahmund said the load limit on all five bridges were removed and can officially handle large vehicles, like fire engines or ambulances, coming across it.

“It is a very positive thing. The project is not completely finished though,” Wahrmund said. “There are some odds and ends still being worked out, but the bridges are passable and they’re rated to carry the loads of the fire trucks — the heaviest loads. It’s not the time to do the ribbon cutting yet because they’re not quite finished yet.”

She anticipates repairs to the bridges wrapping up at the end of July.

Wahrmund also wanted to thank Thurston County Commissioner Rachel Grant, Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland, Buckler, Russell, and Patty Page, Centralia city project manager, for their support of the repairs along the way.