State Route 397 (SR 397) is a

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in the U.S. state of Washington, serving the

Tri-Cities Tri-Cities most often refers to: *Tri-Cities, Tennessee, United States *Tri-Cities, Washington, United States Tri-City, Tricity or Tri-Cities may also refer to: Populated places Americas Canada *Tri-Cities (British Columbia), consisting of Co ...

region. It primarily functions as a truck route through industrial areas in Finley, Kennewick, and Pasco, running between junctions with Interstate 82 (I-82) and I-182. The highway crosses the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

on the

Cable Bridge The Cable Bridge, officially called the Ed Hendler Bridge and sometimes called the Intercity Bridge, spans the Columbia River between Pasco and Kennewick in southeastern Washington as State Route 397. It was constructed in 1978 and replaced the ...

, built in 1978 to replace an earlier bridge. SR 397 was added to the state highway system in 1991, as a short route connecting Finley to Pasco. Two years later, the highway was extended further south into Finley. The remaining highway between I-82 and Finley in the Horse Heaven Hills was constructed by the state government and Benton County from 2004 to 2008 and was signed as part of SR 397 in 2009.

Route description

Intersection of Ainsworth and Oregon in Pasco, Washington 1

SR 397 begins at an interchange with

I-82 Interstate 82 (I-82) is an Interstate Highway in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States that travels through parts of Washington and Oregon. It runs from its northwestern terminus at I-90 in Ellensburg, Washington, to its southeaste ...

and

U.S. Route 395 U.S. Route 395 (US 395) is a U.S. Route in the western United States. The southern terminus of the route is in the Mojave Desert at Interstate 15 near Hesperia. The northern terminus is at the Canada–US border near Laurier, where the road be ...

(US 395) in the Horse Heaven Hills southwest of Kennewick. The highway runs east along the barren top of the ridge, arcing to the north, crossing several canyons and gullies, and traveling through several cuts in the hills. The road takes a turn north at Nine Canyon, descending into the predominantly rural Finley area. SR 397 turns east to cross an irrigation canal and a section of the

Fallbridge Subdivision The Fallbridge Subdivision is a railway line in southern Washington running about along the Columbia River from Pasco to Vancouver, then south to Portland, OR. It is operated by BNSF Railway and is considered part of the Northern Transcon. The P ...

railroad operated by the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

, which also carries Amtrak's '' Empire Builder'' service. After passing several

chemical plant A chemical plant is an industrial process plant that manufactures (or otherwise processes) chemicals, usually on a large scale. The general objective of a chemical plant is to create new material wealth via the chemical or biological transform ...

s and industrial facilities on the west bank of the

, the highway turns northwest onto Chemical Road and follows the railroad into Kennewick. The highway skirts the east side of downtown Kennewick, running along Gum Street through an industrial park on the north side of the railroad. Its main connection to downtown Kennewick is Columbia Drive, which continues west to Clover Island and the junction of US 395 and SR 240 near Columbia Park. SR 397 then crosses the Columbia River on the

(officially the Ed Hendler Bridge), the first modern cable-stayed bridge to be constructed in the United States. The bridge's north end is in Pasco (seat of Franklin County), where SR 397 turns east on Ainsworth Street and crosses over the BNSF

Lakeside Subdivision The Lakeside Subdivision is a railway line in eastern Washington running about from Sunset Junction, west of Spokane to Pasco. It is operated by BNSF Railway and is considered part of the Northern Transcon. The line is used by the Portland s ...

before continuing north. The highway travels around the south and east edges of downtown Pasco on Oregon Avenue, serving the

Port of Pasco A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

industrial area and the east side of a railyard and the city's

Amtrak station This is a list of train stations and Thruway Motorcoach stops used by Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation in the United States). This list is in alphabetical order by station or stop name, which mostly corresponds to the city ...

. SR 397 makes a gradual turn to the northeast before terminating at a

cloverleaf interchange A cloverleaf interchange is a two-level interchange in which all turns are handled by slip roads. To go left (in right-hand traffic; reverse directions in left-driving regions), vehicles first continue as one road passes over or under the ...

with I-182, US 12, and US 395 near the Tri-Cities Airport. SR 397 is maintained by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), which conducts an annual survey on the state's highways to measure traffic volume in terms of average annual daily traffic. The highway's daily vehicle counts range from a minimum of 760 vehicles in Nine Canyon to a maximum of 18,000 on the north side of the Cable Bridge.

History

The

, which carries SR 397 across the Columbia River, was opened on September 16, 1978, and built using $30 million in federal, county, and city funding (equivalent to $ in dollars). It replaced the " Green Bridge", which was built in 1922 and carried a section of the

Inland Empire Highway Primary State Highways were major state highways in the U.S. state of Washington used in the early 20th century. They were created as the first organized road numbering system in the state in stages between 1905 and 1937 and used until the 1964 ...

(later part of US 410) until the opening of the Blue Bridge in 1954. Chemical Road was built in the early 1960s to serve a number of new industrial facilities in Finley, following the general path of the

Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway The Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway (SP&S) was a railroad in the northwest United States. Incorporated in 1905, it was a joint venture by the Great Northern Railway and the Northern Pacific Railway to build a railroad along the north bank o ...

towards Kennewick. The county government had previously considered paving nearby roads as early as the 1910s. The first section of Chemical Road was completed in 1961 by Benton County, at a cost of $237,000. Construction of a railroad underpass on Gum Street east of downtown Kennewick began the following year and was completed in September 1963, at a cost of $340,000. Additional railroad crossings were completed by 1965 and the road was renamed to Chemical Drive to conform with Kennewick's city guidelines. The

state legislature A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...

designated a state highway on Chemical Road and the Cable Bridge in 1991, numbering it SR 397. The road and bridge were transferred to state control in April 1992, originally terminating at Game Farm Road in central Finley. In 1993, SR 397 was extended south by to Piert Road following a request from WSDOT and Benton County that was endorsed by the Washington State Transportation Improvement Board and approved by the state legislature. An east–west road connecting Finley to I-82 in southern Benton County was first proposed by the county government in 1961 to allow truck traffic to bypass the Tri-Cities. The highway, named the "intertie", was built with lanes and shoulders to accommodate truck traffic; additionally, several streets in Kennewick and Finley were extended to connect with the new road. The $15.4 million project was funded using a $5 million allocation from the legislature's 2003–05 transportation budget, as well as $4.3 million from the state

gas tax A fuel tax (also known as a petrol, gasoline or gas tax, or as a fuel duty) is an excise tax imposed on the sale of fuel. In most countries the fuel tax is imposed on fuels which are intended for transportation. Fuels used to power agricultural v ...

, $3.7 million from Benton County, and additional funds from the Port of Kennewick and the federal government. The first phase, a section between I-82 and Olympia Street, began construction in March 2004 and was completed in October. The second phase, extending to Finley Road on the south side of Nine Canyon, began construction in 2005 and was completed in November 2006. The final phase, connecting to SR 397 in Finley via a railroad overpass, was completed on October 8, 2008. The highway was initially signed as a

county route A county highway (also county road or county route; usually abbreviated CH or CR) is a road in the United States and in the Canadian province of Ontario that is designated and/or maintained by the county highway department. Route numbering can ...

until it was transferred to the state by a legislative action in 2009 extended SR 397 to the Locust Road interchange.

Major intersections

References

External links

Highways of Washington State
{{State highways in Washington related to US 395

397 Year 397 ( CCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Caesarius and Atticus (or, less frequently, year 1150 ' ...

Transportation in Benton County, Washington Transportation in Franklin County, Washington Tri-Cities, Washington