Project overview
This project will replace the State Route 542 bridge over Glacier Creek in Whatcom County, in the Community of Glacier. The new bridge will connect to the existing Gallop Creek Bridge, and together, these new structures will reduce flood risk, restore salmon habitat, and improve safety for all travelers by including active transportation connections. This project will follow a Complete Streets approach and will require an environmental justice assessment.
What to expect
This project is in the early stages of design. Travelers should not expect to see construction in the area. This project went through the Complete Streets Pre-design phase. We worked with the community and agency partners throughout 2025 and into 2026 to determine options for people walking, bicycling and rolling across the bridge. This work included two online surveys, an online open house, in-person conversations with businesses and multiple agency coordination meetings. The Design phase is expected to last through Spring 2027, with Construction anticipated from Spring 2028 through Winter 2029.
Environmental justice assessment
An Environmental Justice Assessment (EJA) will be completed for this project. These assessments are conducted for significant agency action (SAAs) that could harm the environment or impact how environmental benefits are distributed to overburdened communities (OBCs) or vulnerable populations (VPs). An EJA guides decision-making to ensure fair distribution of environmental benefits, reduce environmental harms and address disparities in both environmental and health outcomes. Meaningful engagement with affected communities is a crucial aspect of this process.
This project will replace the State Route 542 bridge over Glacier Creek in Whatcom County, in the Community of Glacier.
The existing SR 542 bridge over Glacier Creek is in Whatcom County, supporting connections in and through the Glacier community. The current structure over Glacier Creek has a long history of channel instability, flooding, emergency road repairs, flood control projects and several bridge replacements. The existing SR 542 crossing is located on an alluvial fan and is very undersized for watershed conditions.
The WSDOT SR 542 Glacier Creek Bridge Replacement Project would design and construct a new floodplain-spanning, 880-foot-long bridge over Glacier Creek. The bridge would be continuous with a recently constructed adjacent bridge over Gallop Creek (which shares the alluvial fan), span the floodplain and alluvial fan, and eliminate 350 feet of vulnerable bridge approach fill between the two existing structures. The project would remove vulnerable WSDOT infrastructure from Glacier Creek flow paths and reduce flood and avulsion risk to SR 542.
This project is expected to reduce flood risk, ensure transportation is reliable during flood events, improve safety for the Glacier community and visitors east of the crossing and reduce the need for future emergency highway and bridge repairs. As a nature-based solution, it would also improve threatened salmon habitat by restoring the floodplain processes that are vital for maintaining healthy aquatic ecosystems as well as including active transportation facilities to meet WSDOT’s complete streets requirements.
Complete streets
The Complete Streets legislation was passed in 2022, in Washington Senate Bill 5974. Using the WSDOT’s Complete Streets approach, this project will go through a Complete Streets Pre-design phase to determine the SR 542 corridor cross-section between milepost 33.31 to 33.67. The cross-section includes lanes for cars, buses, and trucks and facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians, all in one plan. The pre-design phase of the project will include significant community engagement to understand the needs of tribes, overburdened communities, multimodal users, ferry passengers, residents and other interested parties in the area.
The intent of the SR 542 Glacier Creek- Complete Streets Pre-Design phase is to create a corridor that accommodates all users (pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users and motor vehicle drivers) as well as provide improved connections to key destinations including the community of Glacier, National Forest lands, USFS Public Service Center and residential neighborhoods.
We worked with the community and agency partners throughout 2025 and into 2026 to determine options for people walking, bicycling and rolling across the bridge. This work included two online surveys, an online open house, in-person conversations with businesses and multiple agency coordination meetings.
Our team evaluated several design options for the bridge deck as well as crossings and roadway traffic management on either side of the bridge. After evaluating factors, such as community preferences, winter maintenance needs and forward compatibility with Whatcom County’s future Bay to Baker Trail, our Complete Streets team recommended a raised sidewalk with conventional bike lanes (pictured below). Please note that the green pavement is only for visual purposes; bike lanes on the bridge deck will not be green but will have the white stripe and bike stencil.
A cross section of the SR 542 Glacier Creek Bridge preferred alternative.
We selected this alternative because it best balances year‑round maintenance needs, long‑term compatibility with Whatcom County’s future trail plans and community feedback. In our latest survey asking for feedback on the final two alternatives, about two-thirds of respondents preferred this alternative. This alternative will lower the posted speed limit from 40 to 35 mph and provide dedicated space for people walking and biking while fitting within the fixed 40‑foot bridge width.
We will continue refining details as we enter design, including ensuring forward-compatibility with Whatcom County’s proposed Bay to Baker Trail.
Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act
This project is also subject to Washington's environmental justice law, known as the Healthy Environment for All (HEAL) Act, which requires WSDOT to conduct EJA for SAAs. SAAs are actions initiated after July 1, 2023, and consist of WSDOT transportation projects and grants of $15 million or more, new grant or loan programs, agency request legislation and rulemaking.
Environmental justice in Washington State, as provided in the HEAL Act, addresses disproportionate environmental and health impacts in all laws, rules, and policies by prioritizing vulnerable populations and overburdened communities, the equitable distribution of resources and benefits, and eliminating harm (RCW 70A.02.010)
Agency, Tribal and Community Engagement
Agency, Tribal and Community engagement will be conducted throughout the project. Specific engagement opportunities will be updated as the project advances.