State Route 4 (SR 4) is a state highway, serving the southwestern region of the

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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, also known as Ocean Beach Highway, travels east along the Columbia River from U.S. Route 101 (US 101) at Johnston's Landing through

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, Wahkiakum and

Cowlitz Cowlitz may refer to: People * Cowlitz people, an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest ** Cowlitz language, member of the Tsamosan branch of the Coast Salish family of Salishan languages * Cowlitz Indian Tribe, a federally recognized tribe of ...

counties to an interchange with Interstate 5 (I-5) in Kelso. SR 4 is designated as part of the Lewis and Clark Trail Scenic Byway, a state scenic byway, as well as part of the National Highway System. The highway, along with I-5 and SR 14, forms the former route of US 830, which ran along the Columbia River from Johnston's Landing to

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from the creation 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 ...

in 1926 until 1968. US 830 was co-signed with Primary State Highway 12 (PSH 12) from Johnston's Landing to Kelso and was created in 1937 as the successor to various unsigned state highways.

Route description

SR 4 begins at an intersection with US 101 at Johnston's Landing, located on the Naselle River in rural

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. The highway, designated as the Lewis and Clark Trail Scenic Byway, travels southeast along the Naselle River and serves as the northern terminus of SR 401 in the

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the count ...

of Naselle before leaving the Naselle River. SR 4 continues east along Salmon Creek and the Deep River into Wahkiakum County before it intersects the former route of SR 403 in Rosburg. The highway travels upstream along the Grays River and turns southeast towards Skamokawa, passing east of the Julia Butler Hansen Refuge for the Columbian White-Tailed Deer on the shores of the Columbia River. SR 4 continues east through the

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of Cathlamet and intersects the former terminus of SR 407 and the northern terminus of SR 409. The highway travels into Cowlitz County and intersects the western terminus of SR 432, which serves the

Port of Longview The Port of Longview is a deep-water port authority located in Longview, on the Columbia River in southwest Washington, United States. It was established in 1921 by Washington state law, and operates as a unit of local government. The port is o ...

, in West Longview. SR 4 continues through the northern part of Longview and passes the campus of the Lower Columbia College before traveling onto Cowlitz Way. Cowlitz Way intersects the former spur route of SR 411 and crosses over SR 411 and the

Cowlitz River The Cowlitz River is a river in the state of Washington in the United States, a tributary of the Columbia River. Its tributaries drain a large region including the slopes of Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, and Mount St. Helens. The Cowlitz has a d ...

into Kelso before SR 4 splits into a

one-way pair A one-way pair, one-way couple, or couplet refers to that portion of a bi-directional traffic facilitysuch as a road, bus, streetcar, or light rail linewhere its opposing flows exist as two independent and roughly parallel facilities. Descripti ...

traveling south through downtown Kelso. SR 4 turns east onto Allen Street and continues to its eastern terminus, 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 ...

with

I-5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Californi ...

north of the

Three Rivers Mall Three Rivers Mall is an enclosed shopping mall located in Kelso, Washington that opened in 1987, on the site of a former golf course adjacent to Interstate 5. Previously owned by General Growth Properties, the mall was one of 30 malls that was sp ...

. 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 SR 4 was the intersection with Catlin Street in Kelso west of the Cowlitz Way Bridge, serving 34,000 vehicles daily, while the least busy section was between Rosburg and Cathlamet in rural Wahkiakum County, serving less than 1,000 vehicles per day. The entire route of SR 4 is designated as part of the National Highway System, a highway system that includes roadways important to the national economy, defense, and mobility; and as a Highway of Statewide Significance by WSDOT from US 101 at Johnston's Landing to SR 432 in West Longview, which includes highways that connect major communities in the state of Washington.

History

The present route of SR 4 was codified into the state highway system in 1915 as State Road 19, connecting Naselle, Cathlamet, Longview, and Kelso along the Columbia River. The highway was built by

in the Naselle area and Cowlitz County between Stella and Kelso, while the Department of Highways built a road connecting Cathlamet to Skamokawa by 1915. State Road 19 was officially designated as the Ocean Beach Highway in 1919 and renumbered to State Road 12 in 1923. The highway was incorporated into US 830 during the creation of the

in 1926, traveling east along the Columbia River from US 101 at Johnston's Landing to US 97 in

. The highway was paved with the macadam method between Johnston's Landing and Grays River and between Skamokawa and Kelso by 1931. The remaining gap was constructed of gravel by 1933 and the entire highway was paved by 1939. State Road 12 was replaced by PSH 12 in 1937, traveling west from PSH 1 and US 99 in Chehalis to PSH 13 in

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, south on US 101 to Johnston's Landing, and east on US 830 to PSH 1 and US 99 in Kelso. During the 1964 highway renumbering, US 830 replaced PSH 12 between Johnston's Landing and Kelso and was designated as part of the Lewis and Clark Trail Scenic Byway during the creation of the state scenic highway system in 1967. US 830 was decommissioned in 1968 and was replaced with SR 4; however, the highway was proposed as a route for US 12 before it was extended west via

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Major intersections

References

External links

Highways of Washington State
{{DEFAULTSORT:State Route 004

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Transportation in Pacific County, Washington Transportation in Wahkiakum County, Washington Transportation in Cowlitz County, Washington