State Route 302 (SR 302) is a state highway 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 ...

, connecting the communities of

Allyn-Grapeview Allyn-Grapeview is a former census-designated place (CDP) in Mason County, Washington, United States. At the 2010 census, the CDP was separated into Allyn and Grapeview. The combined 2010 population of the two new CDPs was 2,917. The community- ...

and Purdy on the

Kitsap Peninsula The Kitsap Peninsula () lies west of Seattle across Puget Sound, in Washington state in the Pacific Northwest. Hood Canal separates the peninsula from the Olympic Peninsula on its west side. The peninsula, a.k.a. "Kitsap", encompasses all of Kit ...

, located in Mason and

Pierce Pierce may refer to: Places Canada * Pierce Range, a mountain range on Vancouver Island, British Columbia United States * Pierce, Colorado * Pierce, Idaho * Pierce, Illinois * Pierce, Kentucky * Pierce, Nebraska * Pierce, Texas * Pierce, We ...

counties. The highway travels southeast from SR 3 in Allyn-Grapeview along North Bay and turns east along Henderson Bay to Purdy. SR 302 intersects its spur route and turns south, ending at an interchange with SR 16 at the north end of

Gig Harbor Gig Harbor is the name of both a bay on Puget Sound and a city on its shore in Pierce County, Washington,. The population was 12,029 at the 2020 census. Gig Harbor is one of several cities and towns that claim to be "the gateway to the Olymp ...

. The highway was created during the 1964 highway renumbering to replace Secondary State Highway 14A (SSH 14A) between Allyn and Purdy.

Route description

SR 302 begins as the Victor Cutoff Road at an intersection with SR 3 south of

North Mason High School North Mason High School is a public high school located in Belfair, Washington. It was constructed in 1982-1983 as part of North Mason School District and was replaced in fall of 2015 as a 95,000 square foot building for grades 9-12. It is one of t ...

, located in the community of

in Mason County. The highway travels south along the North Bay of Case Inlet into Pierce County and east across the Key Peninsula toward Henderson Bay. SR 302 continues east through Wauna and across a sandspit on the

Purdy Bridge The Purdy Bridge is a continuous reinforced concrete box girder bridge that spans , with a central span of , between Henderson Bay and Burley Lagoon. The bridge connects Purdy, Washington with the Purdy Sand Spit Park and Wauna, Washington. Pur ...

into the community of Purdy; the two-lane hollow box girder bridge crosses Burley Lagoon and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. In Purdy, the highway turns south onto Purdy Drive at an intersection with its spur route and ends at a

semi-directional T interchange In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, usi ...

with SR 16, located within

city limit City limits or city boundaries refer to the defined boundary or border of a city. The area within the city limit can be called the city proper. Town limit/boundary and village limit/boundary apply to towns and villages. Similarly, corporate lim ...

s. 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. Established in 1905, it is ...

(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 ...

(AADT), which is a measure of traffic volume for any average day of the year. In 2011, WSDOT calculated that the busiest section of the highway was Purdy Drive between the Purdy Bridge and SR 16, serving 26,000 vehicles, while the least busiest section of the highway was in the Allyn-Grapeview area, serving 1,500 vehicles.

History

The

, serving the community of Purdy on the Burley Lagoon, was constructed as a wooden

swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pi ...

in 1892 by Pierce County. The wooden bridge was replaced in 1905 after the

timber pilings Piling foundations support many historic structures such as canneries, wharves, and shore buildings. The old pilings present challenging problems during restoration as they age and are destroyed by organisms and decay. Replacing the foundation e ...

collapsed and rebuilt in 1920 to include a steel swing span. The current two-lane hollow box girder span was opened on September 29, 1937 at a cost of $62,000 and became part of SSH 14A during the creation of the primary and secondary state highways. SSH 14A was extended west from

Allyn Allyn is both a unisex given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: ;Given name: * Leigh-Allyn Baker (born 1972), American actress, director and voice artist * Allyn L. Brown (1883–1973), American judge * Allyn Capron (18 ...

to Belfair in 1955, extending along a route to connect Belfair and Allyn to Purdy. SSH 14A was replaced by SR 3 from Belfair to Allyn and SR 302 from Allyn to SR 16 in Purdy during the 1964 highway renumbering as part of the creation of a new state highway system. SR 16 was moved to a freeway bypass of Purdy in November 1978 and the old alignment on Purdy Drive was split between SR 302, heading south, and a new spur route, heading north. The highway was realigned in 1991 onto the Victor Cut-Off Road, which was transferred from the county to the state. During the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, a 6.2 earthquake that occurred on February 28, 2001, a section of SR 302 between Allyn and the Key Peninsula was damaged and closed. The highway was repaired with federal emergency relief funds and state funding at a cost of $1 million, opening to traffic in 2003 after being replaced by a temporary gravel road.

WSDOT 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 ...

is, , planning to widen SR 302 between the Key Peninsula and Purdy and SR 302 Spur within Purdy as part of safety and congestion improvements scheduled to begin construction in spring 2014. A corridor study was conducted by WSDOT between 2008 and 2012 and proposed that a new highway north of Henderson Bay to bypass Purdy and have a more direct connection with SR 16 be constructed.

Spur route

SR 302 Spur, known locally as Purdy Drive, begins its short, route through Purdy at the east end of the

, which carries SR 302 from Wauna. The highway travels north along Burley Lagoon from Peninsula High School before ending at a

with SR 16.

conducted a series of surveys to measure traffic volume in terms of

AADT 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 ...

and calculated that between 1,900 and 11,000 vehicles per day used the spur route in 2011. The spur route was originally part of a Primary State Highway 14 (PSH 14) branch connecting

Port Orchard Port Orchard, part of Washington state's Puget Sound, is the strait that separates Bainbridge Island on the east from the Kitsap Peninsula on the west. It extends from Liberty Bay and Agate Pass in the north to Sinclair Inlet and Rich Passage ...

to Tacoma that later became SR 16 during the 1964 highway renumbering. SR 16 was moved to a freeway bypass of Purdy in 1978 and the former route was split between SR 302 and the newly created SR 302 Spur.

Major intersections

References

External links

Highways of Washington State
{{good article 302 Transportation in Mason County, Washington Transportation in Pierce County, Washington