Washington State Route 539
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| State Route 539 Number based on  I-5 |
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| RCW 47.17.785 | |||||
| Length: | 15.16 mi[1] (24.4 km) | ||||
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| Formed: | 1969 | ||||
| South end: | I-5 in Bellingham |
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| Major junctions: |
 SR 546 in Lynden |
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| North end: |  BC-13 near Langley, BC |
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State Route 539, commonly known as SR-539, Meridian Street, Guide Meridian Road, or colloquially, "The Guide" is a state highway in Washington, U.S.A. It runs for 15.16 miles[1] from Bellingham in the south to the U.S.-Canadian border at Lynden-Langley in the north.
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[edit] Route description
SR-539 begins at Exit 256 of Interstate 5 just south of the Bellis Fair Mall, approximately four miles north of downtown Bellingham. From there it proceeds due north to the Canadian border between Lynden, Washington and the Township of Langley, British Columbia.
Once past the Bellis Fair Mall immediately north of the I-5 interchange, SR-539 continues through the shopping centers of the northern outskirts of Bellingham; Whatcom Community College and the Cordata Business Park are also nearby. Shortly after leaving this area, the road narrows from the four to six lane thoroughfare to the two-lane road it remains all the way to the border.
North of Bellingham, it passes through the small town of Laurel, which contains Meridian High School. It then passes over Wiser Lake and the Nooksack River, before arriving in Lynden, home to a municipal airport.
The entire route from I-5 to the border is perfectly straight north-south. It serves mostly traffic from Bellingham (and the I-5 freeway) to the city of Lynden, although it also serves the Everson-Nooksack-Sumas area via State Route 544. It also provides an alternate route into Canada when the border crossings at Blaine on I-5 and State Route 543 are backed up.
[edit] History
- Prior to the 1964 state highway renumbering, SR-539 was known as SSH (Secondary State Highway) 1-B. (The I-5 corridor at the time was known as Primary State Highway 1.) U.S. Route 99 came into being in 1926 with the rest of the original U.S. Highways, and was signed concurrently with PSH-1 until 1964. In 1954, SSH-1-B was designated as U.S. Route 99 Alternate. During the 1964 renumbering, the PSH-1 and SSH-1-B designations were removed. Then in 1969, U.S. 99 was decommissioned in the state of Washington, as was Alt. U.S. 99, and Alt. U.S. 99 was replaced by SR-539.
- The routing of SSH-1-B/Alt. U.S. 99 presumably continued south on Meridian Street past what is now I-5, then down either Broadway or Girard Street in downtown Bellingham to connect with U.S. 99/PSH-1, which at the time ran on Holly Street, Prospect Street, and Dupont Street in downtown Bellingham.
[edit] References
- ^ a b State Highway Log, Washington State Department of Transportation, 2005 B
[edit] See also
- List of Washington State Routes
- 1964 state highway renumbering (Washington)
- U.S. Route 99
- U.S. Route 99 Alternate (Bellingham, Washington)
[edit] External links
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State routes in Washington related to I-5 |
| SR 500 - SR 501 - SR 502 - SR 503 (Spur) - SR 504 (Spur) - SR 505 - SR 506 - SR 507 - SR 508 - SR 509 - SR 510 - SR 512 - SR 513 - SR 515 - SR 516 - SR 518 - SR 519 - SR 520 - SR 522 - SR 523 - SR 524 (Spur: Edmonds, Lynnwood) - SR 525 (Spur) - SR 526 - SR 527 - SR 528 - SR 529 (Spur) - SR 530 - SR 531 - SR 532 - SR 534 - SR 538 - SR 539 - SR 542 - SR 543 - SR 544 - SR 546 - SR 547 - SR 548 - SR 599 | |
| Former or proposed state routes: SR 514 - SR 517 - SR 536 - SR 537 - SR 540 | |
