Washington State Route 8

"WA 8" redirects here. WA 8 may also refer to Washington's 8th congressional district.

State Route 8

SR 8 highlighted in red.
Route information
Defined by RCW 47.17.035
Maintained by WSDOT
Length: 20.67 mi[2] (33.27 km)
Existed: 1964[1] – present
Major junctions
West end: US 12 in Elma
  SR 108 in McCleary
East end: US 101 near Olympia
Highway system

State highways in Washington
Interstate • US • State
Former PSH • 1964 renumbering • Former SR

← SR 7 SR 9 →

State Route 8 (SR 8) is a state highway in Grays Harbor and Thurston counties, of the U.S. state of Washington. It extends 20.67 miles (33.27 km) from U.S. Route 12 (US 12) in the city of Elma, east to an interchange with US 101 about 5.90 miles (9.50 km) northwest of the state capital, Olympia. SR 8 intersects SR 108 west of McCleary. The route serves as a connector between Elma and Olympia.

The highway formerly was part of the Elma – Grand Mound branch of Primary State Highway 9 (PSH 9 EG) from 1937 until 1964, which ran from Elma southeast to Interstate 5 (I-5), formerly US 99 in Grand Mound, which was later added as part of US 12 in 1967. The road also forms the northern boundary of Capitol State Forest in Thurston County.

Contents

Route description

SR 8 runs 20.67 miles (33.27 km) east from US 12 in Elma to an interchange with US 101 5.90 miles (9.50 km) northwest of Olympia.[2] The route links the city of Elma with Olympia, and intersects only one other highway, SR 108, in McCleary.[3][4][5] WSDOT has found that more than 17,000 motorists utilize the road daily at the interchange with US 101 based on average annual daily traffic (AADT) data.[6]

SR 8 starts at an interchange with US 12 in Elma. From the interchange, the expressway goes northeast past Downtown Elma and starts to parallel the Chehalis River.[7] After crossing the river twice, the highway intersects SR 108, which goes northeast towards Kamilche, west of McCleary. After passing Downtown McCleary, SR 8 has a partial cloverleaf interchange with Mox Chehalis Road. From the interchange, the expressway goes east to form the northern boundary of the Capitol State Forest,[8] and passes Summit Lake.[9] From Summit Lake, the highway turns northeast and merges with US 101 southbound.[3][10]

History

Before the Primary and Secondary system, SR 8 in 1923 was part of a branch of State Road 9, from Elma to Grand Mound.[11] Later, in 1937, the route from Elma to Grand Mound became part of Elma – Grand Mound branch of Primary State Highway 9 (PSH 9 EG).[12] PSH 9 EG became SR 8 in 1964 during the 1964 highway renumbering, in which the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) replaced the previous system of Primary and Secondary Highways with a new system called State Routes, which is still in use today.[13][14]

Later in 1967, US 12 was extended from Lewiston, Idaho westward to Aberdeen.[15] It was approved on 20 June 1967, and it replaced the route of US 410, therefore making the highway obsolete.[15] Since US 12 used the all-weather White Pass and SR 8 from Elma to Grand Mound, and US 410 used Chinook Pass, which was closed during the winter, US 12 bypassed US 410 and what is now SR 8.[16] Signs were changed in late December 1967,[17] and the bypassed segments of US 410 became a new SR 8.[18][19]

On 9 June 2007, a tanker fire occurred on SR 8 when a tanker truck with 10,000 gallons of fuel collided with another vehicle and started a fire. The fire caused SR 8 to close for a couple of hours except for the westbound left lane, which crews used to get oil out of the soil underneath the highway.[20] During the Winter 2007 storm, a slope that held up SR 8 was eroded by floodwaters. The slope, located on SR 8 west of the US 101 interchange, and is scheduled to begin this season and last 2 months.[21] In 2010, WSDOT aims to rebuild the columns that support the SR 8/US 101 interchange and reduce the risk of failure in an earthquake, such as the 2001 Nisqually earthquake.[22]

Major intersections

County Location Mile[2] Destinations Notes
Grays Harbor Elma 0.00 US 12 west – Montesano, Aberdeen Continues as US 12 west
US 12 east – Oakville, Centralia, Yakima Interchange; westbound exit and eastbound entrance
McCleary 6.03 SR 108 east – McCleary, Kamilche
7.39 Mox Chehalis Road – McCleary Partial cloverleaf interchange
Thurston 20.67 US 101 south – Olympia Interchange; eastbound exit and westbound entrance

References

  1. ^ Washington State Legislature. "RCW 47.17.035: State Route 8". http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=47.17.035. Retrieved 19 October 2008. 
  2. ^ a b c Washington State Department of Transportation. "State Highway Log, 2006" (PDF). http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/tdo/PDF_and_ZIP_Files/HwyLog2006.pdf. Retrieved 19 October 2008. 
  3. ^ a b Google, Inc. Google Maps – State Route 8 Map (Map). Cartography by Google, Inc. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=WA-8&daddr=47.055753,-123.009624&hl=en&geocode=FbY9zQIdrkCl-A%3B&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=16&sll=47.055724,-123.009775&sspn=0.00443,0.008926&ie=UTF8&ll=47.043926,-123.210297&spn=0.283549,0.571289&z=10. Retrieved 19 October 2008. 
  4. ^ Rand McNally (2008). The Road Atlas (Map). pp. 108, section H4, H5, H6. ISBN 0528939610. 
  5. ^ G.M. Johnson (2007). Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater, Thurston County (Map). City Street Maps (2007 ed.). http://store.maplink.com/map.aspx?nav=MS&cid=10056,10078&pid=522952. Retrieved 19 October 2008. 
  6. ^ Washington State Department of Transportation (2007). "Washington Annual Average Daily Traffic Data". http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/tdo/PDF_and_ZIP_Files/Annual_Traffic_Report_2007.pdf. Retrieved 19 October 2008. 
  7. ^ G.M. Johnson (2008). Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Sequim, Aberdeen, Hoquiam (Map). City Street Maps (2008 edition ed.). Elma inset. http://store.maplink.com/map.aspx?nav=MS&cid=10056,10078&pid=522973. Retrieved 23 October 2008. 
  8. ^ Google, Inc. Google Maps – Capitol State Forest (Map). Cartography by Google, Inc. http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=47.027078,-123.164978&spn=0.07091,0.142822&z=12. Retrieved 19 October 2008. 
  9. ^ Washington State Department of Transportation (2007). SR 8 – Emergency Slide Repair – Unstable Slope Map (Map). Cartography by Tele Atlas. http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR8/SlideRepair/map.htm. Retrieved 19 October 2008. 
  10. ^ Washington State Department of Transportation (2008). Official State Highway Map (Map). 1:842,000. Official State Highway Maps. Cartography by U.S. Geological Survey (2008–2009 ed.). Olympia, Washington. Section E2. http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/87105CAD-83A9-49A7-80F3-5719637C1E2D/0/FrontMapBig.pdf. Retrieved 19 October 2008. 
  11. ^ Washington State Legislature (1923). "185". Session Laws of the State of Washington. Session Laws of the State of Washington (1923 edition ed.). Olympia, Washington: Washington State Legislature. http://books.google.com/books?id=G784AAAAIAAJ&pgis=1. Retrieved 19 October 2008. 
  12. ^ Washington State Legislature (1937). "190". Session Laws of the State of Washington. Session Laws of the State of Washington (1937 edition ed.). Olympia, Washington: Washington State Legislature. http://books.google.com/books?id=dcQ4AAAAIAAJ&q=%22ESTABLISHMENT+OF+PRIMARY+STATE+HIGHWAYS.%22+pacific&pgis=1#search. Retrieved 19 October 2008. 
  13. ^ C. G. Prahl, Washington State Highway Commission (1 December 1965). "Identification of State Highways, Part 1" (PDF). http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/6836215D-E301-43F3-895A-472BD2FDE86A/0/Identification.pdf. 
  14. ^ C. G. Prahl, Washington State Highway Commission (1 December 1965). "Identification of State Highways, Part 2" (PDF). http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/EC2F7D1E-2F51-4004-B5C3-5A2CE9FE3C7D/0/Indentification2.pdf. 
  15. ^ a b Weingroff, Richard F. (7 May 2005). "U.S. 12 Michigan to Washington". Federal Highway Administration. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/us12.htm. Retrieved 19 October 2008. 
  16. ^ "All-Weather Plan Picked By Highway Commission". Walla Walla Union-Bulletin: p. 5. 23 April 1967. 
  17. ^ "Highway 410 is now U.S. No. 12". Walla Walla Union-Bulletin: p. 1. 28 December 1967. 
  18. ^ "U-B Action Line". Walla Walla Union-Bulletin: p. 1. 29 September 1968. 
  19. ^ Washington State Highway Commission (1970). "Annual Traffic Report" (PDF). http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/tdo/PDF_and_ZIP_Files/1970_ATR.pdf. Retrieved 19 October 2008. 
  20. ^ Stowe, Kelly. "Lane Closures Continue on SR 8 after Tanker Fire". Washington State Department of Transportation. Archived from the original on 28 June 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080628151001/http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/News/2007/06/10_LaneClosureContinuesonSR8.htm. Retrieved 19 October 2008. 
  21. ^ Washington State Department of Transportation. "SR 8 – Emergency Slide Repair – Unstable Slope". http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/sr8/sliderepair/. Retrieved 19 October 2008. 
  22. ^ Washington State Department of Transportation. "SR 8 – US 101 Undercrossing – Seismic Retrofit". http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/sr8/us101xseismic/. Retrieved 19 October 2008. 

External links