State Route 542 (SR 542) 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 ...

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 ...

, serving

Mount Baker Mount Baker ( Lummi: '; nok, Kw’eq Smaenit or '), also known as Koma Kulshan or simply Kulshan, is a active glacier-covered andesitic stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades of Washington in the United States. ...

Whatcom County Whatcom County is a county located in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Washington, bordered by the Canadian Lower Mainland (the Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley Regional Districts of British Columbia) to the north, Okanogan ...

. SR 542 travels east as the Mount Baker Highway from an interchange with Interstate 5 (I-5) in Bellingham through the Nooksack River valley to the Mt. Baker Ski Area at Austin Pass. It serves as the main highway to Mount Baker and the communities of Deming, Kendall, and

Maple Falls Maple Falls is a census-designated place (CDP) in Whatcom County, Washington, United States. The population was 324 at the 2010 census. Geography Maple Falls is located on the Mount Baker Highway, east of Bellingham, three miles east of a junc ...

along the Nooksack River. The highway was constructed in 1893 by Whatcom County as a wagon road between Bellingham and Maple Falls and was added to the state highway system as a branch of State Road 1 in 1925. The branch was transferred to Primary State Highway 1 (PSH 1) during its creation in 1937 and became SR 542 during the 1964 highway renumbering.

Route description

SR 542 begins as Sunset Drive and the Mount Baker Highway 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 be ...

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 ...

to the northeast of downtown Bellingham. The highway travels northeast through suburban neighborhoods along Squalicum Creek and passes

Squalicum High School Squalicum High School is a public school in Bellingham, Washington, United States, and is part of the Bellingham School District. The school serves the northeast population of Bellingham, including the area surrounding Lake Whatcom. Squalicu ...

as it leaves the city of Bellingham. SR 542 continues northeast through rural

, crossing the Nooksack River and intersecting SR 9 at a

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford Eng ...

. The

concurrent Concurrent means happening at the same time. Concurrency, concurrent, or concurrence may refer to: Law * Concurrence, in jurisprudence, the need to prove both ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea'' * Concurring opinion (also called a "concurrence"), a ...

SR 9 and SR 542 travel southeast through the community of Deming along a

BNSF BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

rail line and passes

Mount Baker Senior High School Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, ...

. SR 542 leaves SR 9 east of Deming and turns north along the North Fork of the Nooksack River and the eastern slope of

Sumas Mountain Sumas Mountain is a mountain located in Whatcom County, Washington, Whatcom County, Washington (state), Washington, 15 miles northeast of Bellingham, Washington, Bellingham and southwest of Vedder Mountain. Located in the Skagit Range, the moun ...

to Kendall, where it serves as the southern terminus of SR 547. The Mount Baker Highway turns east and continues along the Nooksack River North Fork into the

Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

Glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...

in the foothills of

. SR 542 turns south and serves the Mt. Baker Ski Area on the northeast side of the mountain before splitting 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. Descript ...

around Picture Lake. The Mount Baker Highway continues through Austin Pass and ends at Artist Point, located at above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...

on Kulshan Ridge. Table Mountain refected

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 542 was the I-5 interchange in Bellingham, serving 38,000 vehicles, while the least busy section of SR 542 was the one-way pair around Picture Lake in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, serving 230 vehicles. The Mount Baker Highway is designated as a

National Forest Scenic Byway The National Forest Scenic Byways are roads that have been designated by the U.S. Forest Service as scenic byways. Many are also National Scenic Byways (NSB). The program was initiated in 1987. __TOC__ List The following roadways were listed by t ...

and serves as the eastern section of the Ski to Sea Race between Mount Baker and

, a

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

race with seven legs hosting seven events. The eastern terminus of SR 542, at Artist Point on Kulshan Ridge, is only open in the summer between July and October due to extreme weather conditions.

History

The Mount Baker Highway was constructed by

in 1893 as a wagon road traveling northeast from Bellingham along the Nooksack River through Deming and Kendall to

. The wagon road was extended from Maple Falls through

to the Mt. Baker Ski Area at Heather Meadows began 1921 and ended in 1926. Heller, p. 7. The Mount Baker Highway was added to the state highway system in 1925 as the Austin Pass branch of State Road 1 and was extended to its current terminus at Artist Point in 1931. Heller, p. 31. The highway was closed seasonally between Glacier and Artist Point until the filming of ''

The Call of the Wild ''The Call of the Wild'' is a short adventure novel by Jack London, published in 1903 and set in Yukon, Canada, during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, when strong sled dogs were in high demand. The central character of the novel is a dog named ...

'' in 1934 and 1935 prompted interest in the

area. The Department of Highways began clearing the highway of snow during the winter of 1934 for the film and continued annually between Glacier and Heather Meadows; Heller, p. 34. however, the highway was not cleared during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

due to gasoline shortages. The highway was designated as the Austin Pass branch of PSH 1 during the creation of the primary and secondary state highways in 1937 and renumbered to SR 542 in 1964. The entire route, between Bellingham and Austin Pass, was designated as part of the

Washington State Scenic and Recreational Highways The Washington State Scenic and Recreational Highways program is a system of scenic routes in the U.S. state of Washington. History The passage of the Scenic and Recreational Highway Act of 1967, signed into law on April 27, 1967, established ...

program in 1987 and a

on November 1, 1988. A rock wall collapse on October 12, 2020, closed access to the Artist Point section of SR 542 for ten months while repairs were made. The rock wall was rebuilt by WSDOT and the section was reopened in August 2021.

Major intersections

References

Works cited

External links

*
Highways of Washington State
{{Good article

542 __NOTOC__ Year 542 ( DXLII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. From this year forward, the appointment of particular Roman consuls was abandoned and the office was merged with t ...

Transportation in Whatcom County, Washington