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[Amaury]

Does anyone have clearer pictures of this interchange—and areas around it—with different angles, including from the POV of US Route 97 northbound before the interchange prior to the construction in 2008 that changed it the on and off ramps we have today? It's known as the Don Senn Memorial Interchange and is on the west side of the Columbia River, east of Peshastin. This is from 2008, but it was while construction was already going on, and it's not very clear: https://goo.gl/maps/aReUcuTjKkLYmxUSA

I'm trying to figure out exactly how they did it, because with the current setup, the ramps have you going slightly uphill or downhill. However, from what I remember at the time when the ramps didn't even exist when I was roughly 16 or 17 as a passenger with my mom—since I hadn't started driving yet—in our case, since we were always going to Wenatchee is that heading northbound on US 97, you came up to a stop sign and turned right. The intersection was on level-ground. The only thing I can think of on why there's a slight hill now is that there was a very slight realignment done of US 97 there.

[FrCorySticha]

If you go east past the stoplights in the Oct. 2008 view, you can find this image from Sept. 2007 that seems to predate construction: https://goo.gl/maps/egWbPSbB1j8NFJiJ6

Looking at the construction, it seems clear that US 2 was elevated and the relocated US 97 was lowered to allow for the clearance under the overpass.

Edit: Here's a couple better shots of the junction itself from 2007: https://goo.gl/maps/KEX49HyPVUZ1P4SS9 https://goo.gl/maps/TGfwBxPFAym1kBER6

[Amaury]

That last one is what I definitely remember. And yeah, it definitely seems likely there was a slight realignment of US 97, because if you turn that last image around to face south—which interestingly enough, it won't let you move farther in that direction—that curve is definitely not there in the setup now. Raising US 2 and adding that overpass and lowering US 97 also seems likely.

It's too bad we can't go further back than 2009 from this angle, as I would love to see it prior to construction: https://goo.gl/maps/4WepsuTgsXLx9zTU9

[FrCorySticha]

It's too bad we can't go further back than 2009 from this angle, as I would love to see it prior construction: https://goo.gl/maps/4WepsuTgsXLx9zTU9

That would be interesting to see the difference. Looking at the wide shoulder up to the side road, my guess is that the stop sign is basically in the middle of old US 97.

[stevashe]

This streetview shows that the old intersection was located about where the new ramps merge in at the east end of the interchange: https://goo.gl/maps/DPuja1ma7gw5jwQr8

Digging into the Internet Archives, the old WSDOT page for this project also has some info that may be of interest to you, including a couple (unfortunately very small) aerial photos showing the design that do confirm the location of the old intersection: https://web.archive.org/web/20080805014455/http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/US2/97_PeshastinEast_IC/

Given this evidence, US 97 was indeed slightly realigned to meet US 2 further west when the interchange was constructed, and this along with some raising of US 2 and/or lowering of US 97 would account for the hill on the current ramps.

The red line here shows the approximate location of the old US 97 alignment:

[Amaury]

A regular traffic light could have worked there, too, for the safety project just like at all the other intersections on the way to Wenatchee, but what they did works, too! I do wonder, though, why this no US 2 access sign is here: https://goo.gl/maps/7zhYTs24HbHtXqbR7 The archived article does mention the Blewett Cutoff Road/Doghouse Road intersection with US 2 being permanently closed; however, you can still access US 2 with those roads. Via Saunders Road for westbound only and via Saunders Road and Fosters Road for both directions where it's concurrent with US 97. No trucks probably make sense, but there's still technically access.

[CovalenceSTU]

Using Google Earth's historical imagery, here's the original intersection with the modern one overlaid:


And a close-up of it:

[1]

How did Big Y get all the way from New England to Washington?

[compdude787]

Using Google Earth's historical imagery, here's the original intersection with the modern one overlaid:

Very interesting. I didn't realize that US 97 was realigned when that interchange was built.

[Amaury]

Using Google Earth's historical imagery, here's the original intersection with the modern one overlaid:

And a close-up of it:

Does Google Earth have a street view that would let you know see old alignment/road that no longer exists? On Google Maps, I can only see the road off US 2, but can't actually go down it. I'm just curious now to know what the signage was like along the old alignment, in both directions, as I don't remember. The only thing I remember is the big stop sign (for going straight and left turns) where US 97 turned right to join US 2 via a yield sign.

[CovalenceSTU]

Using Google Earth's historical imagery, here's the original intersection with the modern one overlaid:

And a close-up of it:

Does Google Earth have a street view that would let you know see old alignment/road that no longer exists? On Google Maps, I can only see the road off US 2, but can't actually go down it. I'm just curious now to know what the signage was like along the old alignment, in both directions, as I don't remember. The only thing I remember is the big stop sign (for going straight and left turns) where US 97 turned right to join US 2 via a yield sign.

Unfortunately, you can only see the Stop Ahead sign before the Street View from that direction ends: https://goo.gl/maps/DuwHh7CJv6CjCUdk8
I think they delete capture of old road alignments to avoid cluttering the map.

[stevashe]

Using Google Earth's historical imagery, here's the original intersection with the modern one overlaid:

And a close-up of it:

Does Google Earth have a street view that would let you know see old alignment/road that no longer exists? On Google Maps, I can only see the road off US 2, but can't actually go down it. I'm just curious now to know what the signage was like along the old alignment, in both directions, as I don't remember. The only thing I remember is the big stop sign (for going straight and left turns) where US 97 turned right to join US 2 via a yield sign.

Unfortunately, you can only see the Stop Ahead sign before the Street View from that direction ends: https://goo.gl/maps/DuwHh7CJv6CjCUdk8
I think they delete capture of old road alignments to avoid cluttering the map.

Yeah unfortunately you can't get to old alignments on streetview. It used to be possible, but at some point it stopped working, presumably to de-clutter the map as CovalenceSTU mentioned.