State Route 241 (SR 241) is a north–south state highway serving

Yakima Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The uni ...

and Benton counties 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 sove ...

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 begins at SR 22 in Mabton and travels north to Sunnyside, where it intersects Interstate 82 (I-82) and U.S. Route 12 (US 12). SR 241 continues north into the

Rattlesnake Hills The Rattlesnake Hills, also known as Rattlesnake Ridge, is a 16-mile (26 km) long anticline mountain ridge in Yakima County and Benton County in the U.S. state of Washington. It should not be confused with the much smaller Rattlesnake Ridge ...

and ends at a junction with SR 24. Prior to the formal establishment of SR 241 in 1970, the highway between Sunnyside and the Rattlesnake Hills was briefly designated as Secondary State Highway 3V (SSH 3V). SR 241 was moved during the construction of I-82 during the 1980s and was extended south to Mabton in 1991.

Route description

SR 241 begins as an extension of Boundary Road at an intersection with SR 22 in Mabton, located at the northeastern edge of the

Yakama Indian Reservation The Yakama Indian Reservation (spelled Yakima until 1994) is a Native American reservation in Washington state of the federally recognized tribe known as the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. The tribe is made up of Klikitat, ...

. The highway travels northeast towards downtown Mabton, crossing over a section of the BNSF Railway's Yakima Valley subdivision, and turns north at Washington Street to follow 1st Avenue on the border between the Yakama Indian Reservation and Mabton. SR 241 leaves Mabton after passing several suburban blocks and crosses over the

Yakima River The Yakima River is a tributary of the Columbia River in south central and eastern Washington state, named for the indigenous Yakama people. Lewis and Clark mention in their journals that the Chin-nâm pam (or the Lower Snake River Chamnapam ...

near a

boat launch A slipway, also known as boat ramp or launch or boat deployer, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats, and for launching and retrieving small ...

in the Sunnyside State Wildlife Recreation Area. The highway continues north through Givens Corner and across flat farmland predominately used for herb growing and

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineya ...

s. In the southern outskirts of Sunnyside, SR 241 briefly turns east on Alexander Road and north on Waneta Road to intersect I-82 and US 12 at a

diamond interchange A diamond interchange is a common type of road junction, used where a controlled-access highway crosses a minor road. Design The freeway itself is grade-separated from the minor road, one crossing the other over a bridge. Approaching the ...

. The interchange is also the planned location of a new hospital building for the Astria Health system. The highway continues north and crosses over the Central Washington Railroad and the Lower Yakima Valley Pathway trail at an intersection with the Yakima Valley Highway (formerly part of US 12). SR 241 travels around the eastern outskirts of Sunnyside, passing several food processing plants and the Sunnyside Municipal Airport, before leaving the city. It continues north into rolling farmland on Hanford Road, turning northeast to follow Sulphur Creek as it ascends into the

. Within the Rattlesnake Hills, the highway leaves the creek and crosses barren

rangeland Rangelands are grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts that are grazed by domestic livestock or wild animals. Types of rangelands include tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and shrublands, woodlands, sava ...

s and shrub-steppe highlands. SR 241 turns north and northeasterly to follow a

pass Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places * Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland * Pass, Poland, a village in Poland * Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see List of straits * Mountain pass, a lower place in a moun ...

in the hills and begins its descent into the

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or sw ...

s of the

Black Rock Valley Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have ...

. The highway briefly crosses into Benton County and re-enters

Yakima County Yakima County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 256,728. The county seat and largest city is Yakima. The county was formed out of Ferguson County in January 1865 and is named for the Yakam ...

while turning northwest to avoid a part of the Yakima Ridge. SR 241 terminates at a junction with SR 24, the main east–west route between

and the Hanford area, at the Silver Dollar Cafe. SR 241 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. Established in 1905, it is ...

(WSDOT), which conducts an annual survey of traffic volumes on state highways measured in terms of

annual average 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 ...

. Traffic volumes on the highway range from a minimum of 1,600 vehicles near its northern terminus in the Rattlesnake Hills to a maximum of 14,000 vehicles at its interchange with I-82.

History

SR 241 follows a section of the 19th-century White Bluffs Road, which connected Sunnyside to the White Bluffs ferry crossing on the Columbia River. A county road connecting Sunnyside to Mabton was constructed by the early 1910s and paved during the following decade. The original bridge over the Yakima River was replaced in 1954 by a new span. The state legislature created SR 241 in 1967, assigning it the unsigned designation of Secondary State Highway 3V (SSH 3V). The highway connected US 12 and Sunnyside to SSH 11A in the Rattlesnake Hills. The assignment came during the transition between highway numbering systems, which was completed in 1970; SR 241 was officially signed, while SR 24 replaced SSH 11A under the new system. Several low-speed curves on sections of the highway were improved to handle higher-speed travel. The three bridges carrying the highway over the Rosa Irrigation Canal system northeast of Sunnyside were rebuilt by the state government in 1977. SR 241 was extended south to the Waneta Road interchange on I-82 in 1987, five years after the freeway was completed through Sunnyside. The initial selection of Waneta Road instead of the Sunnyside–Mabton Road was controversial with Mabton residents and officials, who sought to change the state government's tentative plans in the 1970s. The state government ultimately chose the Waneta interchange, but promised improvements to nearby roads to appease Mabton. SR 241 was extended further south to a junction with SR 22 in Mabton in 1992, following an act of the state legislature the previous year. The extension had been investigated by a legislative committee in 1986. The highway is periodically closed during wintertime due to large

snow drift A snowdrift is a deposit of snow sculpted by wind into a mound during a snowstorm. Snowdrifts resemble sand dunes and are formed in a similar manner, namely, by wind moving light snow and depositing it when the wind has virtually stopped, us ...

s caused by high winds, necessitating the construction of

snow fence A snow fence, similar to a sand fence, is a barrier that forces windblown, drifting snow to accumulate in a desired place. They are primarily employed to minimize the amount of snowdrift on roadways and railways. Farmers and ranchers use snow f ...

s along sections of SR 241. The fences were, however, damaged in 2016 by

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...

s and were not replaced due to funding shortfalls.

Major intersections

References

External links

Highways of Washington State
{{State highways in Washington related to SR 24

241 Year 241 ( CCXLI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gordianus and Pompeianus by the Romans (or, less frequently, year 9 ...

Transportation in Benton County, Washington Transportation in Yakima County, Washington