U.S. Route 395 in Washington

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U.S. Route 395
Defined by RCW 47.17.575, maintained by Washington DOT
Length: 275.03 mi[1] (442.62 km)
South end: I-82 / US 395 in Umatilla, OR
Major
junctions:		 I-182 / US 12 in Pasco
I-90 / US 2 in Spokane
North end: Hwy 395 near Grand Forks, BC
State highways in Washington
< SR 339 SR 397 >
Lists: current - Interstates - 1937-70 - 1964 renumbering

In the U.S. state of Washington, U.S. Route 395 is a major state highway in two parts, separated by a long overlap with Interstate 90 between Ritzville and Spokane. The southern piece, from I-82 near the Tri-Cities to I-90 near Ritzville, is a high-speed four-lane divided highway. From Spokane to the Canadian border at Laurier, US 395 is mostly two lanes, with some wider sections near Spokane, including the under-construction North Spokane Corridor freeway.

Contents

[edit] Route description

[edit] History

[edit] Oregon to Pasco

When US 395 was extended southwest from Spokane into Oregon in the 1930s, it followed existing U.S. Highways - US 730 and US 410 - between the state line and Pasco;[2][3] it was not realigned to the more direct route via Kennewick until 1985.[4] However, the road from Plymouth to Kennewick, cutting off a bend in the Columbia River, had existed (as a county road) since the early days of the state highway system,[5] and was improved by the 1930s.[2] The Washington State Legislature added the roadway to the state highway system in 1943 as part of a Maryhill-Kennewick branch of Primary State Highway 8.[6] (The main route of PSH 8 turned northeast from Maryhill to Buena via US 97.)

[edit] Pasco to Spokane

A map of Primary State Highway 11
A map of Primary State Highway 11

As part of the state's first connected state highway system, the Washington State Legislature designated the Central Washington Highway between Pasco and Spokane in 1913.[7] The State Highway Board selected a route closely paralleling the Northern Pacific Railway's Pasco Division over existing county roads.[5][8] In 1923, by which time the entire road had been improved,[9] the highway became State Road 11 (Primary State Highway 11 after 1937), but retained its name (which was changed to Columbia Basin Highway in 1929).[10][11] By that time, several routing changes had been made, with the State Highway Board moving the highway east away from the rail line between Eltopia and Connell and between Connell and Lind, and changing the direct northeasterly route from Cheney to Spokane to a northerly route enting at the Sunset Highway (now US 2) near Airway Heights.[12] In the 1930s, US 395 was extended southwest from Spokane along SR 11 to Pasco, where it continued southeast on US 410 (now US 12) and southwest on US 730 into Oregon, both branches of State Road 3.[2][3] US 10 was moved south between Cle Elum and Spokane in 1940, overlapping US 395 northeast of Ritzville.[citation needed]

Near Spokane, the Geiger Boulevard cutoff was built in about 1945 as a wartime project, improving access to Geiger Field. This included an interchange with Sunset Highway at the Spokane end.[13][14] This roadway, and the rest of US 395 between Ritzville and Pasco, was replaced by a freeway in the 1950s and 1960s, as part of the project to turn US 10 into Interstate 90. The first section to open was the bypass of Ritzville to Tokio in the late 1950s, and the final piece was between Tokio and Tyler in the late 1960s.[14] When the bypass of Cheney opened on November 18, 1966,[15] the old route became a short-lived Secondary State Highway 11H,[16] always signed as State Route 904.[17]

As the first phase of converting US 395 between Pasco and Ritzville into a limited-access highway, the Department of Highways constructed a new a two-lane alignment between Connell and east of Lind in the mid-1950s, bypassing Lind and Foulkes Roads northeast from Connell and Wahl Road south from Lind.[18][14] Another relocation was built in about 1980, moving the highway alongside the rail line between Eltopia and Connell.[14] The southernmost 7.5 miles (12 km) of SR 17, from Eltopia to Mesa, were absorbed into the realignment; SR 17's mileposts now begin at about 7.5.[1] By 1991, when the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act designated US 395 between Reno, Nevada and Canada as a high priority corridor of the National Highway System, and earmarked $54.5 million for improvements in Washington,[19] the portion between Pasco and Mesa had been four-laned. That year, the state began an $83 million project, including $10.4 million more from the federal government, to widen the remainder north to Ritzville from two to four lanes. Several interchanges were also added to the road, then one of the state's most dangerous highways. WSDOT formally opened the last piece, 15 miles (24 km) of new northbound lanes near Lind, on November 21, 1995, completing a four-lane cross section between the Tri-Cities and Spokane.[20] The speed limit was subsequently raised from 55 to 70 miles per hour (90 to 115 km/h) in July 1996, based on road conditions and actual driving speed.[21]

[edit] Spokane to Canada

[edit] Major intersections

County Location Mile[1] # Destinations Notes
Benton 0.00 Umatilla Bridge over the Columbia River (state line)
1.00 131 SR 14 west – Plymouth, Vancouver
9.84 122 Coffin Road
18.19 114 Locust Grove Road (I-82 to SR 397 Intertie)
19.81 I-82 west – Yakima North end of I-82 overlap
20.54 North end of freeway
Kennewick 23.68 Kennewick Avenue – Kennewick City Center
24.35 South end of freeway
25.01 Columbia Drive – Port of Kennewick
25.01 SR 240 west – Richland
25.69 Blue Bridge over the Columbia River
Franklin Pasco
26.09 Lewis Street Northbound exit and southbound entrance
26.27 Sylvester Street Northbound exit only
26.80 Court Street
27.35 I-182 west / US 12 west – Richland, Yakima South end of I-182/US 12 overlap
27.79 12B North 20th Avenue – Columbia Basin College
28.87 13 North 4th Avenue – Pasco City Center
29.48 14A SR 397 south (Oregon Avenue) – Finley
29.48 US 12 east – Walla Walla, Lewiston North end of I-182/US 12 overlap
30.45 Kartchner Street
31.87 North end of freeway
44.13 Eltopia West Road – Eltopia
44.13 South end of freeway
Mesa 52.65 SR 17 north – Mesa, Moses Lake
Connell 61.64 SR 260 – Connell, Kahlotus
63.22 North end of freeway
63.22 Lind Road – Connell
67.68 South end of freeway
Adams 72.86 SR 26 – Colfax, Othello
77.15 Gap in freeway
88.70 SR 21 – Lind, Kahlotus
94.10 Paha, Packard
102.04 Ritzville
102.69 I-90 west – Seattle South end of I-90 overlap; northbound exit is via Ritzville exit
103.87 221 SR 261 south – Ritzville, Washtucna
108.34 226 Schoessler Road
113.15 231 Tokio
Lincoln Sprague 127.18 245 SR 23 – Sprague, Harrington
135.94 254 Fishtrap
Spokane 139.61 257 SR 904 east – Tyler, Cheney
146.22 264 SR 902 east – Cheney, Medical Lake
152.47 270 SR 904 west – Four Lakes, Cheney
154.73 272 SR 902 west – Medical Lake
158.24 276 I-90 Bus. east – Spokane, Geiger Field
159.65 277B US 2 west – Spokane Airport, Fairchild AFB, Davenport South end of US 2 overlap; signed as exit 277 southbound
160.12 277A Garden Springs Signed as exit 277 southbound; no entrance ramps
Spokane 161.26 279 US 195 south – Colfax, Pullman
162.08 280A Maple Street Signed as exit 280 northbound
280B Lincoln Street Northbound exit is via exit 280
163.24 I-90 east – Coeur d'Alene North end of I-90 overlap
163.77 Spokane Falls Boulevard Former SR 290 east
167.59 SR 291 north – Tum Tum
169.27 US 2 east (Newport Highway) – Newport North end of US 2 overlap
171.78 Wandermere Road
171.78 South end of freeway
173.89 Hatch Road
175.89 North end of freeway
184.32 Main Avenue – Deer Park
Stevens 195.37 SR 292 – Loon Lake, Springdale
203.31 Bulldog Creek Road Former SR 232
207.22 SR 231 – Valley, Springdale
Colville 234.41 SR 20 east – Ione, Newport South end of SR 20 overlap
243.91 SR 25 – Davenport, Northport, Trail
Ferry 246.66 SR 20 west – Republic, Tonasket North end of SR 20 overlap
262.63 Boulder-Deer Creek Road – Curlew
Laurier 275.03 Canadian border

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Washington State Department of Transportation, State Highway Log, 2006
  2. ^ a b c Department of Highways, Highway Map: State of Washington, Revised to April 1, 1933
  3. ^ a b Department of Highways, Highways of the State of Washington (Rand McNally & Co.), 1939
  4. ^ Session Laws of the State of Washington. 1985 chapter 177. "An act relating to state highway routes; amending RCW 47.17.055, 47.17.060, 47.17.455, and 47.17.575; adding a new section to chapter 47.17 RCW; and repealing RCW 47.17.281 and 47.17.867."
  5. ^ a b State Highway Board, Road Map of Washington Showing Main Traveled Roads, 1912
  6. ^ Session Laws of the State of Washington. 1943 chapter 239, p. 715. "An act relating to public highways; creating and establishing, describing and designating additions to the Primary State Highways of the State of Washington; eliminating certain Secondary State Highways from the Secondary State Highway System; amending sections 2, 3 and 12, chapter 207, Laws of 1937 (sections 6402-2, 6402-3 and 6402-12, Remington's Revised Statutes, Volume 7A); and declaring an emergency and that this act shall take effect April 1, 1943.": "There is hereby established an extension to Primary State Highway No. 8, described as follows: Beginning in the vicinity of Maryhill, running thence easterly by the most feasible route along the north bank of the Columbia river to a point in the vicinity of Plymouth, thence in a northeasterly direction to a junction with Primary State Highway No. 3 in the vicinity of Kennewick."
  7. ^ Session Laws of the State of Washington. 1913 chapter 65, p. 222. "An act relating to public highways, classifying the same and naming and fixing the routes of certain state roads.": "A highway connecting with the Inland Empire Highway at Pasco, Washington; thence by the most feasible route through Connell, Ritzville, Sprague, and Cheney to Spokane, Washington, to be known as the Central Washington Highway."
  8. ^ State Highway Board, Map of Washington State Highways Authorized by Legislative Acts of 1913 (with 1915 changes marked)
  9. ^ Rand McNally, Official 1923 Auto Trails Map, District No. 14: Washington, Oregon, Northern California, Western Idaho
  10. ^ Session Laws of the State of Washington. 1923 chapter 185, p. 630. "An act relating to, classifying, naming and fixing the routes of certain state highways, amending Section 6796, and repealing Sections 6791, 6792, 6793, 6794, 6795, 6797, 6798, 6799, 6800, 6801, 6802, 6803, 6804, 6805, 6806, 6808, 6809, 6811, 6812, 6813 and 6816 of Remington's Compiled Statutes.": "A primary state highway, to be known as State Road No. 11 or the Central Washington Highway, is established as follows: Beginning at Pasco in Franklin County; thence by the most feasible route in a northeasterly direction through Connell, Ritzville, Sprague and Cheney to a connection with State Road No. 2 west of the City of Spokane."
  11. ^ Session Laws of the State of Washington. 1929 chapter 171, p. 432. "An act establishing a primary state highway to be known as State Road No. 11, or the Columbia Basin Highway, and amending Section 10 of Chapter 185 of the Laws of 1923."
  12. ^ State Highway Committee, Program of State Highway Department: State and Federal Aid System to be completed by 1936, Approved by State Highway Committee April 1, 1924
  13. ^ Department of Highways, Twenty-First Biennial Report, 1944-1946, p. 31: "the construction of Portland cement concrete pavement on PSH No. 11 between Geiger Field and Four Lakes, a distance of 2.888 miles"
  14. ^ a b c d National Bridge Inventory database, 2006
  15. ^ Department of Highways, Official Opening, Spokane Freeway, Four Lakes to Tyler, November 18, 1966, OCLC 41812460
  16. ^ Session Laws of the State of Washington. 1961 (1st extraordinary session) chapter 21, p. 2625. "Relating to public highways; describing powers and duties of the interim committee on highways, streets and bridges, license department and state highway commission; establishing and designating certain highways and alternate routes; providing for surveys and studies of proposed highway additions and toll facilities; prescribing fees, size, weight, load, permits and equipment restrictions for certain motor vehicles; prescribing regulations relating to motor vehicle fuel taxes; amending...; making appropriations; providing effective dates and declaring an emergency.": "Secondary state highway No. 11H; beginning at a junction with primary state highway No. 11 in the vicinity of Tyler, thence northeasterly via Cheney to a junction with primary state highway No. 11 in the vicinity of Four Lakes: Provided, That the addition of highway No. 11H shall not become effective until such time as the interstate system by-pass of Cheney is constructed and under traffic."
  17. ^ From 1964 to 1970, the old numbers remained legislatively but only the new numbers were signed.
  18. ^ Tri-City Herald, Lind By-Pass Will Straighten Kinks, August 21, 1956
  19. ^ 1991, H.R.2950. "An act to develop a national intermodal surface transportation system, to authorize funds for construction of highways, for highway safety programs, and for mass transit programs, and for other purposes."
  20. ^ Spokane Spokesman-Review, 4-Lane Road Completed at Lind, November 22, 1995
  21. ^ Spokane Spokesman-Review, State Highway Speed Limits Get a Boost, July 12, 1996


U.S. Route 395
Previous state:
Oregon		 Washington Next state:
Terminus
v • d • e
State highways in Washington related to US 395
SR 290 (Spur) - SR 291 - SR 292 - SR 397
Former or proposed: SR 294
v • d • e
Blank US Route shield U.S. Routes in Washington

2  · 10  · 10A  · 12  · 95  · 97  · 97A  · 97S  · 99  · 99A  · 101  · 101A  · 195  · 195S  · 197  · 295  · 395  · 410  · 730  · 830
Deleted or moved highways shown in italics