Mount Rainier: Nisqually Entrance closed overnight for SR 706 work
Mount Rainier's Nisqually Entrance closes for one night to fix SR 706. Use the Stevens Canyon Entrance and SR 123 on the east side instead.
SR 706, the road that leads to Mount Rainier's Nisqually Entrance, will be closed for a single night. Crews are using these quiet hours to replace a failing culvert, the structure that carries water beneath the roadway and was in danger of giving way.
The closure is total, running from 9 p.m. Friday, October 16, until 6 a.m. Saturday, October 17. It covers the stretch outside the park, between Kernahan Road East and the Nisqually Entrance. For that entire window, there's no access through the Nisqually Entrance in either direction.
If you were planning to reach Paradise that night, there's still a way in. Enter the park through the Stevens Canyon Entrance, taking SR 123 on the east side. It's a sizable detour, so plan ahead if you're after sunrise over the high meadows. Count on extra miles and a longer drive.
In practical terms, this closure only affects drivers who meant to come in from the west overnight. During the day, traffic runs as usual, and the Nisqually Entrance reopens at 6 a.m. Saturday morning. Outside that overnight window, nothing changes for your trip.
This kind of quick roadwork is common in the fall, when the crowds thin out and the weather still allows work on the pavement. Replacing a tired culvert now means avoiding a far worse washout once winter sets in and the snow and frost get involved.
Before you hit the road, check the access conditions and opening hours in the Mount Rainier park guide, because a single closed entrance is sometimes all it takes to upend a trip at the foot of the volcano.