Hi, I was looking at a map of the Ilwaco area and it appears US 101 takes a circuitous route past the Port of Ilwaco Airport, and enters Ilwaco on Spruce St. It then turns north on 1st Ave and enters the villages of Holman and Seaview on Pacific Way before tuning east at WA 103 onto 40th St. It eventually curves back north after 11/2 miles east of Seaview.
However there is a short cutoff road/ Alt US 101 immediately north of the airport which is a much shorter route bypassing both Ilwaco and Seaview. Does anyone know why mainline US 101 takes a longer routing through those towns, or the status of the alternate route?
The alternate route is signed, though Washington was very slow in getting AASHTO approval.
In my first great roadtrip as a sort of grownup (1970), I went by there, and the very short Alt. 101 bypassing the long loop through Ilwaco was signed at that time. So, if Washington got around to having AASHTO bless the alternate in the last few years it was there a long time before that.
This angelfire site (http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/hwysofwastate/us101.html) that I've always been a fan of says that the alternate has been signed as such since the 30s, Droz's site says 1939.
The road was built in 1931, which at least partially explains why the mainline follows the circuitous route. At least, it explains why it followed the route through Ilwaco/Seaview in 1926 -- doesn't explain why it still does. If I ruled the world, I would have made the "new" road 101, and the old route 101 Business... but this is not a fantasy thread.
I'd think that US 101 ought to be routed from Aberdeen due east along present U.S. 12 and SR 8, rejoining present U.S. 101 just outside Olympia to terminate at I-5...I never understood the need to run U.S. 101 all the way around the Olympic Peninsula, resulting in the odd practice of travelling "North" on 101, then "East" on 101, and then "South" (or vice-versa) to avoid driving nearly 100 miles "north" while driving compass south.
But I'm getting way off-topic here...