State Route 164 (SR 164) 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 ...
serving southern
King County in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of
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 o ...
. The highway, which connects
Auburn
Auburn may refer to:
Places Australia
* Auburn, New South Wales
* City of Auburn, the local government area
*Electoral district of Auburn
*Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region
*Auburn, South Australia
*Auburn, Tasmania
*Aub ...
and
Enumclaw along the
White River, begins at an interchange with
SR 18 in Auburn and travels southeast to Enumclaw, where it intersects
SR 169 and ends at
SR 410. SR 164 serves as an alternate route towards
Buckley
Buckley may refer to:
Businesses and organizations
* Buckley's, a Canadian pharmaceutical corporation
* Buckley Aircraft, an American aircraft manufacturer
* Buckley Broadcasting, an American broadcasting company
* Buckley School (California), ...
and
Chinook Pass
Chinook Pass (elevation 5430 ft./1656 m.) is a pass through the Cascade Range in the state of Washington.
The pass is located on the crest of the Cascade Range, along a ridge between Yakima Peak to the northwest of the pass, and Naches Pea ...
, via SR 410, and also passes the
Muckleshoot Indian Reservation.
SR 164 was originally part of various state wagon roads between 1913 and 1923, becoming part of
State Road 5, later
Primary State Highway 5 (PSH 5), and
U.S. Route 410 (US 410) in 1926. US 410 was later realigned south in the 1940s and SR 167 was assigned to the former route during the
1964 highway renumbering. In 1969, SR 164 was established and the western terminus was later shortened to an interchange with SR 18 south of Auburn.
Route description
SR 164 begins as Auburn Way at a
partial cloverleaf interchange
A partial cloverleaf interchange or parclo is a modification of a cloverleaf interchange.
The design has been well received, and has since become one of the most popular freeway-to-arterial interchange designs in North America. It has also bee ...
with the
SR 18 freeway south of the Auburn Shopping Center in Downtown
Auburn
Auburn may refer to:
Places Australia
* Auburn, New South Wales
* City of Auburn, the local government area
*Electoral district of Auburn
*Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region
*Auburn, South Australia
*Auburn, Tasmania
*Aub ...
.
The highway travels southeast and passes Les Grove Park and
White River Historical Museum before leaving Auburn, following the
White River upstream into the
Muckleshoot Indian Reservation, passing the
Muckleshoot Casino
The Muckleshoot ( lut, bəqəlšuł ) are a Lushootseed-speaking Native American tribe, part of the Coast Salish peoples of the Pacific Northwest. They are descendants of the Duwamish and Puyallup peoples whose traditional territory was located a ...
. Auburn Way travels east and southeast within the reservation, passing
Seattle Air Route Traffic Control Center
The Seattle Air Route Traffic Control Center (or ZSE or Seattle Center or Seattle ARTCC) is the area control center responsible for controlling and ensuring proper separation of IFR aircraft in Washington state, most of Oregon, and parts of Idah ...
, the
Auburn Adventist Academy and
Muckleshoot Tribal School. SR 164 leaves the reservation and enters rural
King County, continuing to follow the White River as the Auburn–Enumclaw Road and passing the
White River Amphitheatre
White River Amphitheatre is a Live Nation managed concert venue, located 8 miles (13 km) east of Auburn, Washington and 7 miles (11 km) west of Enumclaw, Washington on the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation. It is 22 miles (35 km) nor ...
, turning east as it approaches
Enumclaw. The highway, now named 436th Street, passes Mahler Park and dips south onto Griffin Avenue into Downtown Enumclaw. Griffin Avenue turns southeast and intersects Porter Street, the southern terminus of
SR 169, before traveling to an intersection with Roosevelt Avenue, signed as
SR 410, where SR 164 ends.
Every year, 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) conducts a series of surveys on its highways in the state to measure traffic volume. This is expressed in terms of
average annual daily traffic
Annual average daily traffic, abbreviated AADT, is a measure used primarily in transportation planning, transportation engineering and retail location selection. Traditionally, it is the total volume of vehicle traffic of a highway or road for a y ...
(AADT), which is a measure of traffic volume for any average day of the year. In 2011, WSDOT calculated that between 9,200 and 34,000 vehicles per day used the highway, mostly in the Auburn area.
WSDOT has designated SR 164 as a Highway of Statewide Significance, which includes principal arterials that are needed to connect major communities in the state.
History
SR 164 was first defined under law to be built and paved by the
state of Washington
Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...
in 1913 as the
McClellan Pass Highway, extending southeast from
Tacoma along the
Puyallup and
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
rivers to
Chinook Pass
Chinook Pass (elevation 5430 ft./1656 m.) is a pass through the Cascade Range in the state of Washington.
The pass is located on the crest of the Cascade Range, along a ridge between Yakima Peak to the northwest of the pass, and Naches Pea ...
and towards
Naches along an existing county road from
Auburn
Auburn may refer to:
Places Australia
* Auburn, New South Wales
* City of Auburn, the local government area
*Electoral district of Auburn
*Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region
*Auburn, South Australia
*Auburn, Tasmania
*Aub ...
and
Enumclaw built in the 1890s.
The highway was renamed to the
Naches Pass Highway in 1921 and became
State Road 5 during a 1923 restructuring of the state highway system.
After the formation of the
United States Numbered Highways
The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these hi ...
in 1926,
US 410 was created and used the route of State Road 5 between Tacoma and Naches.
State Road 5 became
PSH 5, extended north to
Renton and named the
National Park Highway, was established during the creation of the
Primary and secondary state highways in 1937.
US 410 was moved south to a new
Sumner
Sumner may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Mount Sumner, a mountain in the Rare Range, Antarctica
* Sumner Glacier, southern Graham Land, Antarctica
Australia
* Sumner, Queensland, suburb of Brisbane
New Zealand
* Sumner, New Zealand, seaside sub ...
–
Buckley
Buckley may refer to:
Businesses and organizations
* Buckley's, a Canadian pharmaceutical corporation
* Buckley Aircraft, an American aircraft manufacturer
* Buckley Broadcasting, an American broadcasting company
* Buckley School (California), ...
highway in the 1950s and was replaced by an extension of
US 12 in 1967.
During the
1964 highway renumbering, PSH 5 was split into several highways, including
SR 167 between
Renton and
Enumclaw, ending at
SR 410.
In 1969, SR 167 was moved onto former
SR 163 between Sumner and Auburn and SR 164 was established.
SR 164 originally ended at
SR 18 in Downtown Auburn, but was moved south when SR 18 was realigned onto a new freeway in 1987.
No major revisions to the route of the highway have occurred since.
Major intersections
References
External links
Highways of Washington State
{{State highways in Washington related to SR 16
164
Transportation in King County, Washington