State Route 8 (SR 8) is a state highway in

Grays Harbor Grays Harbor is an estuary, estuarine bay located north of the mouth of the Columbia River, on the southwest Pacific coast of Washington (U.S. state), Washington state, in the United States of America. It is a ria, which formed at the end of the l ...

and Thurston counties, of the U.S. state 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 ...

. It extends from U.S. Route 12 (US 12) in the city of Elma, east to an interchange with US 101 about northwest of the state capital,

Olympia The name Olympia may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games * ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...

. SR 8 intersects SR 108 west of

McCleary McCleary is an Irish surname. It originated in Galway, Ireland, but the surname is primarily now found in Ulster and Scotland with many descendants in Ulster Scots and Irish areas of North America. The name McCleary is derived from the Gaelic ...

. The route connects Elma and Olympia as part of a corridor between

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

and the

Puget Sound region The Puget Sound region is a coastal area of the Pacific Northwest in the U.S. state of Washington, including Puget Sound, the Puget Sound lowlands, and the surrounding region roughly west of the Cascade Range and east of the Olympic Mountains. ...

. The highway was part of the Elma – Grand Mound branch of Primary State Highway 9 (PSH 9 EG) from 1937 until 1964, which ran from Elma southeast to Interstate 5 (I-5), formerly US 99 in Grand Mound, which was later added as part of US 12 in 1967. The road also forms the northern boundary of

Capitol State Forest The Capitol State Forest is a state forest in Thurston and Grays Harbor counties of the U.S. state of Washington. It includes part of the unusual Mima Mounds geologic feature. The Capitol State Forest is managed by Washington State Department ...

in Thurston County.

Route description

SR 8 runs east from US 12 in Elma to an interchange with US 101 northwest of Olympia. The route links the city of Elma with Olympia, and intersects only one other highway, SR 108, in McCleary. WSDOT has found that more than 17,000 motorists utilize the road daily at the interchange with US 101 based on

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) data. WA8

SR 8 starts at an interchange with US 12 near downtown Elma. From the interchange, the expressway goes northeast and starts to parallel the Chehalis River. After crossing the river twice, the highway intersects SR 108, which goes northeast towards Kamilche, west of McCleary. After passing Downtown McCleary, SR 8 has 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 Mox Chehalis Road. From the interchange, the expressway goes east to form the northern boundary of the

, and passes Summit Lake. From Summit Lake, the highway turns northeast and merges with US 101 southbound. The entire length of SR 8 is expressway. When combined with US 12 to the west and US 101 to the east, it serves as the primary connection between the Puget Sound region and Washington's Pacific coast.

History

Before the Primary and Secondary system, SR 8 in 1923 was part of a branch of State Road 9, from Elma to Grand Mound. Later, in 1937, the route from Elma to Grand Mound became part of Elma – Grand Mound branch of Primary State Highway 9 (PSH 9 EG). PSH 9 EG became SR 8 in 1964 during the 1964 highway renumbering, in which 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) replaced the previous system of Primary and Secondary Highways with a new system called State Routes, which is still in use today. The freeway bypass of Elma opened in June 1965 as part of US 410. Later in 1967, US 12 was extended from

Lewiston, Idaho Lewiston is a city and the county seat of Nez Perce County, Idaho, United States, in the state's north central region. It is the second-largest city in the northern Idaho region, behind Coeur d'Alene, and ninth-largest in the state. Lewiston is ...

westward to

. It was approved on June 20, 1967, and it replaced the route of US 410, therefore making the highway obsolete. Since US 12 used the all-weather

White Pass White Pass, also known as the Dead Horse Trail, (elevation ) is a mountain pass through the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains on the border of the U.S. state of Alaska and the province of British Columbia, Canada. It leads from Skagway, Ala ...

and SR 8 from Elma to Grand Mound, and US 410 used

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 ...

, which was closed during the winter, US 12 bypassed US 410 and what is now SR 8. Signs were changed in late December 1967, and the bypassed segments of US 410 became a new SR 8. During the Winter 2007 storm, a slope that held up SR 8 was eroded by floodwaters. The slope, located on SR 8 west of the US 101 interchange, and is scheduled to begin this season and last 2 months. In 2010, WSDOT aims to rebuild the columns that support the SR 8/US 101 interchange and reduce the risk of failure in an earthquake, such as the

2001 Nisqually earthquake The 2001 Nisqually earthquake occurred at on February 28, 2001 and lasted nearly a minute. The intraslab earthquake had a moment magnitude of 6.8 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (''Severe''). The epicenter was in the southern Puget So ...

Major intersections

References

External links

Highways of Washington State
{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington State Route 008

008 008, OO8, O08, or 0O8 may refer to: * The Streetwear Brand @008us , inspired by Ian Fleming & Virgil Abloh *"030", the fictional 030 Agent of MI6 * '' 038: Operation Exterminate'', a 1965 Italian action film * '' Explosivo 030'' a 1940 Argentine c ...

Transportation in Grays Harbor County, Washington Transportation in Thurston County, Washington