U.S. Route 101 in Washington

Infobox road
state=WA
type=US
route=101


maint=WSDOT
length_mi=365.55
length_ref=Washington State Department of Transportation, [http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/TDO/PDF_and_ZIP_Files/HwyLog2006.pdf State Highway Log] , 2006]
length_round=2
year_established=1926
direction_a=South
terminus_a=jct|state=OR|US|101 in Astoria, OR
junction=
direction_b=North
terminus_b=jct|state=WA|I|5 in Tumwater
previous_type=SR
previous_route=100
next_type=SR
next_route=102In the U.S. state of Washington, U.S. Route 101 is the westernmost state highway, serving the Olympic Peninsula. It runs from the Astoria-Megler Bridge north to the cities of Raymond, Aberdeen, Hoquiam, and Forks before turning east at the small community of Beaver to the most northern point of the highway at Port Angeles, then south to Tumwater. [cite web |url= http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/hwysofwastate/us101.html |title= Highways of Washington State |accessdate=2008-04-03 |format= HTML]

Route description

US 101 in Washington begins at the Astoria-Megler Bridge on the Columbia River, carrying traffic to and from Astoria, Oregon. The first highway US 101 intersects is SR 401.

After going north for a few miles, US 101 turns west after intersecting with US 101 Alternate, which is a shortcut to itself. The route goes west to Ilwaco and north to Long Beach, where it intersects SR 100 and SR 103 before finally turning east back to US 101 Alt.

Soon, US 101 turns north towards Raymond and intersects the west end of SR 4, before going to Downtown Raymond. In Downtown, US 101 intersects the western end of SR 6 and southern end of SR 105, which it will intersect again in Cosmopolis.

After intersecting with SR 105 and SR 107, US 101 crosses the Chehalis River, which leads the highway to the western end of US 12 in Aberdeen. The roadway turns southwest and splits into two streets for each direction until it reaches Hoquiam, where it intersects the southern end of SR 109 and the eastern end of SR 109 Spur.

US 101 then turns north to the Quinault Indian Reservation and then into the isolated area bordered by Olympic National Park and the Quinault Indian Reservation. After turning east at Lake Quinault and entering the Quinault Indian Reservation again, US 101 goes north to the Olympic National Park on the Pacific coast.

The road then curves north Forks and north to Beaver, where it turns east after intersecting with SR 113 and touching the shore of Lake Pleasent. After a mile of going east, US 101 enters its second segment in the Olympic National Park, about one-mile east of the west shore of Lake Cresent and then exits at the eastern shore of the same lake.

After exiting park boundaries, US 101 intersects SR 112 and then turns into an expressway on the south side of Port Angeles, where it splits into SR 117 and the two-street US 101, which will soon rejoin US 101.

After a short 2-lane road, US 101 turns again into a expressway south of Sequim, bypassing the town and going to Sequim Bay and then going to Discovery Bay, where it intersects with the western SR 20 and turns south. After a short distance, US 101 intersects the western end of SR 104. The road then turns south to Dabob Bay, where it follows the shore until US 101 reaches the Hood Canal.

At the Hood Canal, US 101 follows the western shore to SR 106, where it turns directly south to the east end of SR 106 and Shelton, to meet the west end of SR 3. After some time going south, US 101 meets SR 108, the second-to-last major junction. After going southeast, US 101 finally joins SR 8 and turns into a freeway to its easternmost point of US 101 in Washington, the so called "north end" at I-5 in Tumwater. [cite web |url=http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=46.709736,-123.387451&spn=1.073455,2.48291&z=8 |title=Google Maps-US 101 South |author=Google Maps |accessdate=2008-05-27] [cite web |url=http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=47.779943,-123.651123&spn=1.051985,2.48291&z=8 |title=Google Maps-US 101 North |author=Google Maps |accessdate=2008-05-27]

U.S. Route 101 Alternate

Usban
banner=ALT
route=101
location=Ilwaco, Washington
active=1931endash

U.S. Route 101 Alternate is a 0.61-mile (0.98 km) bypass of Ilwaco. US 101 Alt. opened in 1931 as a branch of PSH 12, the early designation of the southern section of US 101 through Washington. The highway was not fully recognized by the AASHTO until October 2006, even though many maps from the 1930s state that it is part of the U.S. Route system. [cite web |url= http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/hwysofwastate/us101.html |title= Highways of Washington State- US 101 |accessdate=2008-04-03 |format= HTML] [cite web |url=http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=46.325239,-124.020538&spn=0.033785,0.077591&z=13 |title=Google Maps-US 101 Alt |author=Google Maps |accessdate=2008-05-27]

History

Before U.S. Route 101 was created, two roads existed in the place of US 101. They were State Road 9 and State Road 12. These were two roads that were part of the early Washington State Road system that was created in 1923. US 101 was created in 1926 and was co-signed with these two routes. US 101 took part of State Road 9's route and part of State Road 12's route.

In 1937, the Washington State Legislature established a new system, the Primary and secondary system. [cite web |url= http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/hwysofwastate/psh.html |title= Highways of Washington State- PSH |accessdate=2008-04-03 |format= HTML] State Road 9 became Primary State Highway 9 or PSH 9. State Road 12 became PSH 12, and they both held the co-signed designation with US 101. [cite web |url= http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/hwysofwastate/psh012.html |title= Highways of Washington State- PSH 12 |accessdate=2008-04-03 |format= HTML]

There was nothing changed about US 101's route from 1937 to 1956. In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Interstate Highway Act into law. This elimated part of the U.S. Route system and encouraged Washington's Legislature to once again change the highway system.

In January 1964, the Washington State Legislature and the Washington Department of Highways (renamed WSDOT) approved a new state route system with no branches or secondary route with names, but a full system that lives on today. PSH 9 and PSH 12 became part of U.S. Route 101 with no co-designation and parts of them became other new state routes. [cite web |url= http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/hwysofwastate/psh009.html |title= Highways of Washington State- PSH 9 |accessdate=2008-04-03 |format= HTML]

Major intersections

References