State Route 124 (SR 124) 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 ...

Walla Walla County Walla Walla County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 62,584. The county seat and largest city is Walla Walla. The county was formed on April 25, 1854 and is named after the Walla Wall ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, United States. It spans from

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in the west to Waitsburg in the east, intersecting U.S. Route 12 (US 12) at both ends. The highway generally follows the

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and

Touchet Touchet is a surname, and may refer to: Members of the English peerage: * James Touchet, 5th Baron Audley, (c. 1398–1459) * George Thicknesse-Touchet, 19th Baron Audley (1758–1818) ** George Thicknesse-Touchet, 20th Baron Audley, (1783–1837 ...

rivers and intersects SR 125 near Prescott. SR 124 was previously part of two state highways: Secondary State Highway 3D (SSH 3D) from Burbank to Prescott, and SSH 3E from Prescott to Waitsburg. During the 1964 state highway renumbering, sections of both highways were formed to SR 124, which was officially named Ice Harbor Road and designated as a state

scenic byway A scenic route, tourist road, tourist route, tourist drive, holiday route, theme route, or scenic byway is a specially designated road or waterway that travels through an area of natural or cultural beauty. It often passes by scenic viewpoints ...

by the state legislature.

Route description

SR 124 begins at a dogbone interchange with US 12 in

on the eastern shore of the

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near its

confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...

with 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 ...

in Pasco (part of the

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). The highway travels east from the interchange onto Ice Harbor Drive after passing Hood Park on the shore of the Snake River and a local branch

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. The two-lane road is rural with a speed limit of as it passes north of the McNary National Wildlife Refuge. SR 124 dips northeast and crosses over a set of railroad tracks carrying the

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of the

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north towards the

Ice Harbor Lock and Dam Ice Harbor Lock and Dam is a hydroelectric, concrete gravity run-of-the-river dam in the northwest United States. On the lower Snake River in southeastern Washington, it bridges Walla Walla and Franklin counties. Located northeast of Burbank ...

. The highway then turns northeast and ascends a ridge that overlooks the Snake River, which continues north while SR 124 travels east through the Eureka Flat. SR 124 descends into the Touchet River Valley below the rolling hills of the

Palouse The Palouse ( ) is a distinct geographic region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of north central Idaho, southeastern Washington, and, by some definitions, parts of northeast Oregon. It is a major agricultural area, primaril ...

and follows the river east through Lamar and Harsha alongside an abandoned

railroad grade Grading in civil engineering and landscape architectural construction is the work of ensuring a level base, or one with a specified slope, for a construction work such as a foundation, the base course for a road or a railway, or landscape and ga ...

. The highway crosses over Lyons Ferry Road with an overpass and intersects the north end of SR 125 on the outskirts of Prescott, approximately north of

Walla Walla Walla Walla can refer to: * Walla Walla people, a Native American tribe after which the county and city of Walla Walla, Washington, are named * Place of many rocks in the Australian Aboriginal Wiradjuri language, the origin of the name of the tow ...

. SR 124 continues east through Prescott and turns southeast to follow the Columbia Walla Walla Railroad, a shortline railroad connecting Walla Walla to

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

. At

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, the highway turns south to cross over the Touchet River and makes a gradual turn to the east as it approaches Waitsburg. SR 124 travels through the town on West 2nd Street and briefly turns south on Main Street before continuing east for one block on Preston Avenue to the highway's terminus at US 12. US 12 then continues east on Preston Avenue and beyond Waitsburg to

and Clarkston. SR 124 is maintained by the

Washington State Department of Transportation The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT or WashDOT, both ) is a governmental agency that constructs, maintains, and regulates the use of transportation infrastructure in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. Establi ...

(WSDOT) and designated as part of the

Lewis and Clark Trail Scenic Byway The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail is a route across the United States commemorating the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 to 1806. It is part of the National Trails System of the United States. It extends for some from Pittsburgh, Pen ...

, a state scenic byway. A short section of the highway in Burbank is also listed on the National Highway System. WSDOT conducts an annual survey of average traffic volume on the state highway system that is measured in terms of annual average daily traffic. Traffic volumes on SR 124 range from a minimum of 1,400 vehicles between Prescott and Boles to a maximum of 7,000 vehicles near Hood Park in Burbank.

History

Most of the current route of SR 124 follows a portion of the

Lewis and Clark Trail The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail is a route across the United States commemorating the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 to 1806. It is part of the National Trails System of the United States. It extends for some from Pittsburgh, Pen ...

. The highway from Piper Canyon Road to Waitsburg follows a small section of the route that

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took from Fort Clatsop in May 1806 before splitting in Montana. SR 124 became a state highway during the 1964 highway renumbering, in which the

(WSDOT) replaced the old system ( Primary and Secondary Highways) with a new system ( State Routes), which is still in use today. In the Primary and Secondary system, SR 124 from US 12 to SR 125 (then

US 410 U.S. Route 410 (US 410) was a U.S. Highway in Washington and Idaho that existed from 1926 to 1967. It ran from US 101 in Aberdeen, Washington, to US 95 in Lewiston, Idaho, passing through the cities of Olympia, Tacoma, ...

) was Secondary State Highway 3D and SR 124 from SR 125 to SR 126 was Secondary State Highway 3E. Secondary State Highway 3D (SSH 3D) was added in 1937, during the creation of the Primary State Highway system. The original route started at US 410 in Touchet and went north to Eureka and east to SSH 3E west of Prescott. Later in 1951, SSH 3D was moved to a route from US 410 in Burbank to SSH 3E, the current route of SR 124 and in 1965, the route from Burbank to Ice Harbor Road was designated the Ice Harbor Drive.Session Laws of the State of Washington. 1964 Title 47, Chapter 47.17, Section 47.17.235. "That portion of state route number 124 lying between the junction with state route number 12 and the county road to Ice Harbor Dam to be known as "Ice Harbor Drive"." SSH 3E was also added in 1937 and went from US 410 in

north to SSH 3D and east past Prescott to Waitsburg. SSH 3E became SR 125 from Walla Walla to SSH 3D and SR 124 from SSH 3D to Waitsburg. Before and after the establishment, the route of SR 124 has gone through several documented WSDOT construction projects from 1941 to 2004. Many were small, minor projects including repavings and intersection improvements. The first was a construction project that constructed SSH 3E from SSH 3D to Waitsburg, which took place in 1941. The latest project was a realignment project along SR 124 east of

. The project straightened a curve along the highway. It cost $145,589 USD and took place in 2004. A $22 million interchange with US 12 was completed in May 2012 to replace the intersection in Burbank that marks the western terminus of SR 124. The intersection, along with a nearby junction with Humorist Road that was replaced with an overpass, had been the sites of several fatal collisions that killed five people in the late 2000s. A railroad crossing south of the Ice Harbor Dam was replaced in October 2017 with an overpass that cost $11 million to construct and realigned a dangerous intersection with a nearby road.

Major intersections

References

External links

Highways of Washington State
{{DEFAULTSORT:State Route 124 124 Transportation in Walla Walla County, Washington