Washington State Route 108

State Route 108 marker

State Route 108
Old Olympic Highway

SR 108 highlighted in red.
Route information
Auxiliary route of US 101
Defined by RCW 47.17.195
Maintained by WSDOT
Length: 11.96 mi[1] (19.25 km)
Existed: 1964[2] – present
Major junctions
West end: SR 8 in McCleary
East end: US 101 in Kamilche
Highway system
← SR 107SR 109 →

State Route 108 (SR 108, also known as the Old Olympic Highway)[3] is a state highway in Grays Harbor and Mason counties, of the U.S. state of Washington. It extends 20.67 miles (33.27 km) from SR 8 in the city of McCleary, east to an interchange with U.S. Route 101 (US 101) in Kamilche. The route serves as a bypass and connects McCleary with Shelton, and Port Angeles.

The highway formerly was Secondary State Highway 9D (SSH 9D) from 1937 until 1964, which ran from McCleary to Kamilche. SR 108 was also closed in late October 2008 because of a project to remove a railroad crossing owned by the Puget Sound and Pacific Railroad.

Route description

SR 108 runs 11.96 miles (19.25 km) east from SR 8 in McCleary to an interchange with US 101 in Kamilche. The route serves as a bypass and connects McCleary with Shelton, and Port Angeles.[4][5] WSDOT has found that more than 11,000 motorists utilize the road daily before the interchange with US 101 based on average annual daily traffic (AADT) data.[6]

State Route 108 near its western terminus near McCleary

SR 108 starts at an intersection with SR 8 west of Downtown McCleary. From the intersection, the road briefly goes north before turning east onto Simpson Avenue into Downtown McCleary.[7] Simpson Avenue goes into McCleary and comes to a 3-way intersection with Main Street at Beerbower Park. SR 108 then turns onto Main Street and becomes Summit Road, passing Lake Clara before leaving Downtown McCleary.[7] After passing Hillgrove, the highway enters McCleary Junction and turns northeast to parallel the Puget Sound and Pacific Railroad.[4][8]

At the intersection with Elma Hicklin Road, the road stops paralleling the railroad and continues northeast into Mason County. In Stimson, the railroad starts to parallel the highway, but after that, the railroad curves back, and stops paralleling SR 108. North of Forbes, the highway crosses the railroad and then enters Kamilche,[4] where the road ends at an interchange with US 101.[3]

History

The shield of SSH 9D.

When the Primary and Secondary Highways were formed in 1937, the current SR 108 became Secondary State Highway 9D (SSH 9D).[9] SSH 9D became SR 108 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.[10][11]

In October 2008, a project to remove an old railroad crossing closed SR 108 for 24 hours near the Little Creek Casino.[12] The railroad crossing was owned by the Puget Sound and Pacific Railroad, currently a division of RailAmerica.[13][14] The railroad crosses SR 108 on its way east from Elma to Shelton.[15][16] The closure caused motorists to use SR 8 and US 101,[12] a 22.54 miles (36.27 km) long detour.[1] The railroad was formerly part of the BNSF Railway.[13]

Major intersections

CountyLocationmi[1]kmDestinationsNotes
Grays HarborMcCleary0.0000.000 SR 8 – Elma, Olympia
MasonKamilche11.9619.25 US 101 – Shelton, Port Angeles, Olympia
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

Route map: Bing

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Washington State Department of Transportation. "State Highway Log, 2006" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  2. ↑ Washington State Legislature. "RCW 47.17.195: State Route 108". Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Washington State Department of Transportation (2007-05-01). "SR 101/SR 108/Old Olympic Highway" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Yahoo!; Navteq (2008-11-10). "State Route 108 Map" (Map). Yahoo! Maps. Yahoo!. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  5. ↑ The Road Atlas (Map). Rand McNally. 2008. p. 108. § H5. ISBN 0-528-93961-0.
  6. ↑ Washington State Department of Transportation (2007). "Washington Annual Average Daily Traffic Data" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Yahoo!; Navteq (2008-11-10). "McCleary, Washington" (Map). Yahoo! Maps. Yahoo!. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  8. ↑ Official State Highway Map (PDF) (Map) (2008-2009 ed.). 1:842,000. Official State Highway Maps. Cartography by U.S. Geological Survey. Olympia, Washington: Washington State Department of Transportation. 2008. § E2. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  9. ↑ 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. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
  10. ↑ C. G. Prahl, Washington State Highway Commission (December 1, 1965). "Identification of State Highways, Part 1" (PDF).
  11. ↑ C. G. Prahl, Washington State Highway Commission (December 1, 1965). "Identification of State Highways, Part 2" (PDF).
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Murdock, Lisa; Dave Franklin (2008-10-21). "SR 108 in Mason County closes overnight Friday". Washington State Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Department of Computer Science, University of Tennessee (2002-05-02). "Puget Sound and Pacific Railroad". Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  14. ↑ Washington State Department of Transportation. "Freight Railroad Contacts". Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  15. ↑ Puget Sound & Pacific Railroad Operations (Map). Puget Sound and Pacific Railroad. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  16. ↑ Washington State Railroad System (PDF) (Map). Cartography by U.S. Geological Survey. Washington State Department of Transportation. 2007. Retrieved 2008-11-10.

External links