Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[thefraze_1020]

Just as the title says. Google Maps shows a road called "Hwy 7" complete with a state route 7 shield on the road shown on the map. This road extends from US-97 in downtown Oroville to a junction with US-97/ WA-20 between Riverside and Tonasket. Looking at old maps, I cannot see any time that this was a state route of any sort, or an old alignment of US-97. There is, however, what appears to be a state-built bridge from circa-1950 over the Similkameen River on the edge of Oroville. Can anyone shed some light on this?

[Alps]

So, oddly, it's in the 2017 topo map shown in Historic Aerials: https://www.historicaerials.com/location/48.68212087819241/-119.4263034276241/T2017/13

[Mapmikey]

The GMSV view of the south intersection with US 97 shows a street blade with the road name being S. highway 7.

It's definitely the original US 97 route, though...

[thefraze_1020]

The GMSV view of the south intersection with US 97 shows a street blade with the road name being S. highway 7.

It's definitely the original US 97 route, though...

I stand corrected. According to my Washington state maps close at hand, it was the old alignment of US 97 in 1944, but US 97 was moved to its current alignment on the east side of the river by 1954. However, as for the "7" number, that is a mystery. US 97 was also PSH 10 before 1964.

[J3ebrules]

So bizarre; there’s no information on it I can find in Google, and it’s certainly not State Route 7, which never goes into that county. On Apple Maps; it’s not given a shield - just the street name “Highway 7”.

[usends]

From what I can tell, after US 97 was moved to the east side of the river, the old route was removed from the state highway inventory, and the road became Okanogan County Highway 7.  That is not a state highway designation, and never was.  But apparently, because of the road name "Highway 7", Google Maps automatically puts a state highway shield on it.

[Alps]

From what I can tell, after US 97 was moved to the east side of the river, the old route was removed from the state highway inventory, and the road became Okanogan County Highway 7.  That is not a state highway designation, and never was.  But apparently, because of the road name "Highway 7", Google Maps automatically puts a state highway shield on it.

See the topo I linked - it's not just Google.

[jakeroot]

If this article (from a Google search) is any indication, it is definitely maintained by Okanogan County.

Only thing I can think of is that it is a numbered county highway (county route?), and it is named "Okanogan County Highway 7" or "Highway 7 Road" (according to at least one document from the Department of Ecology), but at some point recently, the USGS accidentally picked it up as a state highway. Probably since Okanogan County did such a crap job indicating what the actual road/highway is meant to be (road named "Highway 7, "county route 7", a pretend state highway 7???).

This street blade at Loomis-Oroville Rd shows (what I believe is) the Okanogan County logo: https://goo.gl/maps/5FiDD3nJE7bqdQcy7 (this logo appears at the southern end as well)

WA SR Web indicates the southern end is with a road named "Tonakset-Oroville Rd", although businesses along the road seem to prefer "[House #] Highway 7, [city], WA".

WA SR Web also shows the northern end signed as "12th Ave":

[stevashe]

I noticed this a while ago, and even sent in feedback asking google to change it since it's fairly clear that it's a county, not state, designation, but clearly that request was rejected. Good to know my suspicion about it being an old alignment of US 97 was correct, though.

[ErmineNotyours]

I noticed this north of Centraila: Old Highway 9, from the pre-1964 numbering system.

[thefraze_1020]

I noticed this north of Centraila: Old Highway 9, from the pre-1964 numbering system.

The difference is, that one is actually correct with what it's referencing.