Washington Spur Routes

[Quillz]

I've noticed that Washington has a number of three-digit spur routes that increase in number as you head north and east. Just north of Portland, for example, is Route 500, the first I-5 spur, followed by Routes 501, 502, etc.

My question is, having not lived in Washington and thus not being familiar with the system, are these spur routes limited to just nine total? For example, going by how they are numbered, a Route 510 would be a spur of a State Route 51. Or does it not work like that at all?

I know, for example, there is also a Route 970, so it's not just limited to interstates.

[KEK Inc.]

By my University (UW), we have SR-520, and it goes all the way up to WA-599 (technically, that's an exception, so WA-548).   

They also have primary state routes, so SR-3 has its own plethora of spur routes (SR-304 in Bremerton, WA to Seattle) or SR-16 and its spurs (SR-167/SR-161). 

[corco]

Yes- for the most part they try to go west to east or south to north. There are exceptions, particularly along the I-5 corridor, but usually SR 121 will be west of SR 122 and SR 270 will be south of SR 271 etc.

One digit routes usually get to use up to 99 numbers. SRs 3, 4,6, 7, 8, 9, and I-5 can all go from SR x00 to x99. The exception for that is US-2, which only gets 200 to 209 for use.

Two digit routes get 9 numbers for use, so SR 18 would have SR 181 to SR 189 available or I-90 has SR 900 to SR 909 available.


There are some exceptions:
For numbering purposes, US-101 is SR 1 and SR 11 (since SR 11 is unlikely to spawn a branch and could arguably be a 5xx), so it gets from SR 100 to SR 119. SR 19 is also a functional child of US-101. SR 19 doesn't fit the grid at all (it should be somewhere near the Coulee Dam), and was likely assigned because when they reshuffled highways in 1992 (when SR 19 was assigned), all 10x and 11x numbers but 118 were either in use , being assigned, or being decommissioned and I guess they didn't want to reuse a number or 118 for some reason.
SR 20 actually gets SR 21x numbers since the 20x numbers are used by US-2 and SR 21 doesn't have any branch routes.
SR 16x routes are branches of either SR 16 or SR 410, which is a three digit primary route that can't have its own numbers. Only SR 160, 163, and 166 connect to SR 16. The rest are branches off of SR 410.
US-97 originally got SR 15x numbers (as it fits as SR 15 on the grid), but later routes have been SR 97x.
Same with US-395- it originally got 29x numbers (as it sort of fits as SR 29 on the grid), but later routes have been 39x.
US-195 gets to use 19x numbers since there is no SR 19.
SR 4 actually has domain over the SR 43x series, since SR 4 used to be US-830 and those routes were originally numbered 831, 832, and 833. When they brought SR 4 out, they just went ahead and called them 431, 432, 433.
On a similar note, before it was decommissioned SR 237 was the property of SR 20- it didn't make any numbering sense but the route had been SR 537 until it lost connection with what was then SR 536, and the number had to be changed. Washington used to be very good about being anal about number changes when that sort of situation happened, but have slacked a bit since the reshuffling of 1992 (SR 121, for instance, should now be a 5xx)

[Quillz]

How would Washington solve a conflict if, say, Interstate 5 and a fictional Interstate 50 were to exist? If 5 gets all 5xx spurs, which ones would be taken away and given to a fictional I-50? 550-559?

[agentsteel53]

are there any spurs of old US-10, or does US-101 get all the 10x numbers?

[KEK Inc.]

Like California, Washington renumbered in 1964, so no.  I'm not sure if the pattern existed before the renumbering.

[corco]

How would Washington solve a conflict if, say, Interstate 5 and a fictional Interstate 50 were to exist? If 5 gets all 5xx spurs, which ones would be taken away and given to a fictional I-50? 550-559?

I'd presume the Interstate would traverse an existing corridor and they'd give them the numbers that existed along however it fit the grid. They could possibly do 550-559 too.

I should mention one other exception I forgot abuot that may answer the question:

Since I-90 has the 90x roads, SR 9 uses SR 9x as its children (SR 92, 96), so an I-50 could use 5x roads

Like California, Washington renumbered in 1964, so no.  I'm not sure if the pattern existed before the renumbering.

US-10 did exist after 1964 in Washington, however. There just weren't spurs numbered after it. SRs 900, 901, 902, 903, and 920 were created because they knew US-10 was going away eventually (920 being a temporary route in Redmond off of SR 901 before SR 520 was completed with the intent of renumbering it to 520, a perfect demonstration of Washington's bygone analness about that sort of thing). When US-10 was dropped, SR 904 and 906 were created out of the old 10 alignment, with SR 10 for some reason getting to keep its number.

[agentsteel53]

When US-10 was dropped, SR 904 and 906 were created out of the old 10 alignment, with SR 10 for some reason getting to keep its number.

isn't WA-10 the longest continuous segment of US-10 that remains under state maintenance?

the question then becomes, why keep that one on the books, and let long US-10 segments further east devolve to county control?

[corco]

isn't WA-10 the longest continuous segment of US-10 that remains under state maintenance?

the question then becomes, why keep that one on the books, and let long US-10 segments further east devolve to county control?

Not quite- if the 1964 map of Washington sitting in front of me is correct, then all of SR 904 was former US-10 too, which would be 16.96 miles as opposed to 16.16 miles. I'd suspect that besides the old Vantage highway section east of Ellensburg, US-10 mostly was really really close to I-90 with the exception of SR 904, so no reason to keep both routes around. SR 10 and SR 904 are the only places where there are substantial deviations.

One question you might know the answer to- I'm pretty sure US-10 followed Sprague St->Appleway->Seltice from Spokane to Post Falls, but did it ever follow the SR 290 (Trent) alignment for any length of time?

[Quillz]

One other question... Does Washington allow for spur routes to have their own spurs? I know some states do four-digit route numbers. Could 500, for example, have a potential 5000 or 5001 if they were needed?

[corco]

It numbered as another spur off the mainline- here's a list of all the situations where that occurs in a quick skim:

SR 115 off SR 109 off US-101,
SR 116 off SR 19 off US-101,
SR 161 off SR 167 off SR 410,
SR 169 off SR 164 off SR 410,
SR 202 off SR 203 off US-2,
SR 263 off SR 260 off SR 26,
SR 307 off SR 305 off SR 3,
SR 433 off SR 432 off SR 4,
SR 509 off SR 516 off I-5,
SR 513 off SR 520 off I-5,
SR 515 off SR 516 off I-5,
SR 544 off SR 539 off I-5,
SR 546 off SR 539 off I-5,
SR 547 off SR 542 off I-5

Just for fun, by the way, here's a list of the routes that don't touch a parent or similar numbered branch:
SR 121 (moved to that alignment, never touched 12 in its current form)
SR 181 (truncated, no longer touches 18)
SR 193 (was going to be built up the Wawawai River Rd to connect with US-195, but that never happened)
SR 224
SR 225 (not sure what happened with those two, they really should have been 12xs originally, but they were low on 12x numbers. I guess they could have called them 82xs, but that never happened)
SR 290 (stopped touching US-395 in 2006, I believe)

[Quillz]

Ah, that's useful, thanks.

Overall, I like how Washington numbers its routes. It's quite logical and thus you can actually use the numbers to quickly figure out what major roads you might be near.

[corco]

I'm with you 100%. I wish all states would use some sort of logical pattern.

[mightyace]

^^^

You mean picking state highway numbers out of a hat is not logical? 

[sp_redelectric]

There are also bannered spur routes for SR 20 (at Anacortes, from SR 20 mainline to the ferry terminal) and SR 503 (from Yale to Cougar).

The first one makes somewhat sense to me, the second one I'm not sure why SR 503 isn't split into two separate highways - one from Vancouver to Yale, and one from Woodland to Cougar (thus eliminating the spur, which actually continues as FS 90 and a heavily used USFS route.)

[corco]

There are a few other "legit" spurs (not unsigned routes to state parks/maintenance yards)-

105, which serves downtown Westport


109, which connects US-101 south traffic to 109 and Ocean Shores


281, which connects I-90 west traffic to Quincy


525, which connects 526 to the southbound Mukilteo Speedway


There are several other spur routes too, many of them signed (Washington does a great job signing spurs), but those are the most significant

[sp_redelectric]

Ick.  Looks like the signage on Oregon's sole "spur", U.S. 95 Spur.  Give "spur" it's own banner, not within the route marker.

[national highway 1]

Ick.  Looks like the signage on Oregon's sole "spur", U.S. 95 Spur.  Give "spur" it's own banner, not within the route marker.

Looks like WSDOT believes that Washington's forehead needs to be labeled as a spur. 

[Quillz]

I'm back in the Portland-Vancouver area on vacation, and visited Mt. St. Helens yesterday. Drove along the "503 Spur" and it it had "SPUR" in its own banner, not within the shield itself. I think that does look better than in the example posted above.

[xonhulu]

I'm back in the Portland-Vancouver area on vacation, and visited Mt. St. Helens yesterday. Drove along the "503 Spur" and it it had "SPUR" in its own banner, not within the shield itself. I think that does look better than in the example posted above.

I like the south end of Mt St Helens that SPUR 503 accesses.  The Ape Cave and Lava Canyon areas don't quite get the crowds of Johnston Ridge, and you can swing around to the great views from Windy Ridge.  When they first reopened those areas post-eruption, they were really great -- the starkness of the destruction was awe-inspiring.

Anyway, here's what the bannered SPUR 503 shield Quillz mentioned looks like this:



Here's an unusual "END SPUR" banner where SPUR 503 gives way to FR 90:



WA 503 also has a business loop in Battle Ground (I think):



Are there any other Washington state routes with both a SPUR and BUS route?  Or for that matter, any state route with more than one different bannered routes?

[corco]

Whoa, they replaced the END SPUR sign

Are there any other Washington state routes with both a SPUR and BUS route?  Or for that matter, any state route with more than one different bannered routes?

I'm 99% sure not- but since business routes in Washington aren't state highways and are therefore very inconsistently signed it's hard to know for sure.

[xonhulu]

Whoa, they replaced the END SPUR sign

Maybe not, my photo is from 2009.

[corco]

Mine's from 07

[sp_redelectric]

WA 503 also has a business loop in Battle Ground (I think):

Close - Brush Prairie.  Just south of Battle Ground.

[sp_redelectric]

Are there any other Washington state routes with both a SPUR and BUS route?  Or for that matter, any state route with more than one different bannered routes?

SR 20 used to have a business loop; it was renumbered to SR 215 (and for a short while, also US 97 Business, not sure why, but apparently WSDOT figured out a dual route designation didn't make sense either).

I'm frankly surprised Washington has any bannered routes, simply because of their numbering system.  I like it so much better than Oregon's system of unsigned routes, many of which are so short that they would make perfect spur routes (i.e. McMinnville Spur 483 would make a perfect Business Spur 18) rather than possess nonsensical (to the general public) highway numbers.