U.S. Route 99

U.S. Route 99 marker

U.S. Route 99

Pacific Highway
Golden State Highway

Route information

Length:

1,600 mi^[1] (2,600 km)

Existed:

1926 – 1972^[2]

Major junctions

South end:

Fed. 5 at U.S.–Mexico border in Calexico, CA^[3]

US 80 in El Centro, CA^[3]
US 60 / US 70 in Los Angeles, CA
US 101 in Los Angeles, CA^[4]
US 66 in Los Angeles, CA
US 50 from Sacramento to French Camp, CA
US 40 from Davis, CA to Roseville, CA
US 20 in Corvallis, OR/Albany, OR
US 30 in Portland, OR
US 101 / US 410 in Olympia, WA^[5]^[6]
US 10 in Seattle, WA^[7]

North end:

BC 99 at U.S./Canada border in Blaine, WA

Location

States:

California, Oregon, Washington

Highway system

United States Numbered Highway System

← US 97	OR	OR 99 →
← US 97	WA	SR 99 →

U.S. Route 99 (US 99) was a main north–south United States Numbered Highway on the West Coast of the United States until 1964, running from Calexico, California, on the US–Mexico border to Blaine, Washington, on the U.S.-Canada border. It was assigned in 1926 and existed until it was replaced for the most part by Interstate 5. Known also as the "Golden State Highway" and "The Main Street of California", US 99 was important throughout much of the 1930s as a route for Dust Bowl immigrant farm workers to traverse the state. Large portions are now California's State Route 99 (SR 99), Oregon Route 99, 99W, 99E and Washington's SR 99. The highway connected to British Columbia Highway 99 at the Canada–US border.

Route description

California

U.S. Route 99 in Grants Pass, Oregon, 1939

Oregon

The former route of U.S. Route 99 in Oregon mostly follows routes currently signed as Oregon Route 99, 99E, and 99W. The primary exception is from the California–Oregon state border north to Ashland, Oregon, where U.S. 99 is currently named Old Highway 99 S from the state border to Exit 6 of Interstate 5. The former route is coterminous with Interstate 5 from Exit 6 to the junction of Oregon Route 99 in Ashland.

Washington

Unlike California and Oregon, much of the former route of U.S. Highway 99 in Washington exists as local roads and regular city streets; only the route from Fife to Everett still retains the official "99" moniker (as State Route 99). The following is a simplified list of Washington counties and cities that portions of the old route traverse, along with their local names.^[8]

Former U.S. Highway 99 Route in Washington (North to South)
Nearest City	County	Road or Street Names
Blaine	Whatcom	12th Street, D Street, Peace Portal Drive, Portal Way
Birch Bay	Whatcom	Portal Way
Ferndale	Whatcom	Portal Way, Pacific Hwy.
Bellingham	Whatcom	Pacific Hwy., W. Bakerview Road, Northwest Drive, Northwest Avenue, Elm Street, DuPont Avenue, Prospect Street, E. Holly Street, Ellis St., Maple St., Samish Way, Lake Samish Drive, Old Highway 99 North Rd.
Burlington	Skagit	Old Highway 99 North Rd., S. Burlington Blvd.
Mount Vernon	Skagit	Riverside Drive, N 4th St., S 3rd St., S 2nd St., Old Highway 99 S. Road
Conway	Skagit	Conway Frontage Road, Pioneer Highway
Stanwood	Snohomish	Old 99 N, Pioneer Highway E. (2.4 miles north of Stanwood, an older re-alignment exists following: Old Pacific Highway, 102nd Ave NW, 268th St. to Pioneer Highway)
Arlington	Snohomish	Pioneer Highway E, State Route 530, Smokey Point Blvd.
Marysville	Snohomish	State Avenue
Everett	Snohomish	Pacific Highway (State Route 529), Broadway, State Route 99
Lynnwood, Edmonds, Shoreline, Seattle, Tukwila, SeaTac, Des Moines, Federal Way, Milton, Fife	Snohomish, King, Pierce	State Route 99 and as Aurora Ave N From the Snohomish-King County Line to Denny Way
Tacoma	Pierce	Pacific Hwy. E, Eells Street, Puyallup Avenue, E. G St., E. 26th St., South Tacoma Way
Lakewood	Pierce	South Tacoma Way, Pacific Hwy. SW
DuPont	Pierce	Interstate 5 (exit 124 to exit 114)
Nisqually	Thurston	Martin Way
Lacey	Thurston	Old Pacific Hwy. SE, Pacific Avenue
Olympia	Thurston	Pacific Avenue, 4th Ave. E (E) / State Ave. NE (W), Capitol Way
Tumwater	Thurston	Capitol Blvd., Old Hwy. 99 NE
Tenino	Thurston	Old Hwy. 99 NE, Sussex Avenue E, Wichman Street S, 6th Avenue W, Old Hwy. 99 SE
Grand Mound, Tenino	Thurston	Old Hwy. 99 SE and SW
Centralia	Lewis	Harrison Avenue, W. Main Street, Tower Avenue (N) / S. Pearl Street (S), Kresky Avenue NE (N) / S. Gold Street (S)
Chehalis	Lewis	Kresky Avenue (N) / National Avenue (S), National Avenue, Market Blvd., Jackson Highway
Toledo	Lewis, Cowlitz	Jackson Highway, State Route 505, Jackson Highway S, Rogers Rd., Barnes Drive
Castle Rock	Cowlitz	Barnes Drive, Old Pacific Hwy. N, Huntington Avenue S (Business Loop 5), Pleasant Hill Road
Kelso	Cowlitz	Pleasant Hill Road, Pacific Avenue, Ash Street, Grade Street, Kelso Drive, Old Pacific Hwy. S
Carrolls	Cowlitz	Old Pacific Hwy. S, Old Hwy. 99 S
Kalama	Cowlitz	Old Pacific Hwy. S, W. Kalama River Rd., Meeker Dr., S 1st St., Old Pacific Hwy. S, Interstate 5 (from exit 27 to exit 22)
Woodland	Cowlitz	Old Pacific Hwy., Goerig St., Lewis River Rd., E CC St., NW Pacific Hwy.
La Center	Clark	NW Pacific Hwy., NW Lacenter Rd., NE Timmen Road
Vancouver	Clark	NE 10th Ave., NE Union Road, NE 20th Avenue, Hwy. 99 NE, NE 117th Street, Hazel Dell Avenue, Main Street, Interstate 5 (exits 1A/1B)

History

An extensive section of this highway (over 600 miles), from approximately Stockton, California to Vancouver, Washington, follows very closely the track of the Siskiyou Trail. The Siskiyou Trail was based on an ancient network of Native American Indian footpaths connecting the Pacific Northwest with California's Central Valley. By the 1820s, trappers from the Hudson's Bay Company were the first non-Native Americans to use the route of U.S. Highway 99 to move between today's Washington state and California. During the second half of the 19th Century, mule train trails, stagecoach roads, and the path of the Central Pacific railroad (later the Southern Pacific railroad) also followed the route of the Siskiyou Trail. By the early 20th Century, pioneering automobile roads were built along the Siskiyou Trail, including most notably the Pacific Highway. The Pacific Highway ran from British Columbia to San Diego, California and is the immediate predecessor of much of U.S. Highway 99. The highway was continuous pavement by the middle 1930s.

Decommissioning

By 1972, US 99 was completely decommissioned with the completion of I-5 in Washington and California, but the highway's phasing out actually began July 1, 1964 due to the passage of Collier Senate Bill No. 64 on September 20, 1963. The bill launched a major program designed to greatly simplify California's increasingly complicated highway numbering system and eliminate concurrent postings like the aforementioned 60/70/99. The highways that replaced it are:

SR 111 and SR 86 between the Mexico–US border and Indio.
I-10, replacing US 60 and US 70 between Indio and Los Angeles as well.
U.S. Route 101 and SR 110 in downtown Los Angeles.
I-5 from north of downtown Los Angeles to its modern-day split in Wheeler Ridge before 99's final decommissioning in 1968.

In 1972, the AASHTO gave permission to the Oregon State Highway Commission to retire US 99W, US 99E and US 99 from the national system.^[2] The final segments of US 99 were then decommissioned and re-organized into OR 99W, OR 99E and OR 99.

State Highway 99

All three states have replaced some portions of US 99 with state highways of the same number:

US 99 Sign in Downtown Seattle

Washington: 50 miles (80 km) of US 99, from Fife to Everett, is now State Route 99. It is mostly a surface-level highway with the exception of the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the Battery Street Tunnel through downtown Seattle.

Other portions of the old US 99 are now designated as SR 505, SR 529 and SR 530.

Oregon: Most of former US 99 in Oregon now signed as Oregon Route 99 (OR 99). The route still provides surface-level access to many southern Oregon towns served by I-5. It also provides access to many towns in the Willamette Valley. Between Junction City and Portland, the highway splits into eastern and western routes known as OR 99E and OR 99W, respectively. For significant stretches, OR 99 shares an alignment with I-5. Officially, the highway is signed with both route numbers when this occurs; however, in practice, this is often not the case as the OR 99 designation is dropped in favor of I-5. One notable exception is a stretch of OR 99E that runs between Albany and Salem, where OR 99E is cosigned along the highway.
California: The 424-mile (682 km) stretch between Wheeler Ridge and Red Bluff is signed as State Route 99 which makes it California's second-longest state highway behind SR 1. However, the newly enacted Historic U.S. Route 99 extends from Indio starting from Interstate 10 in the Coachella Valley all the way down the Imperial Valley to Calexico on the US-Mexico border with Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico.