State Route 215 (SR 215) 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 ...

serving

Okanogan County Okanogan County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington along the Canada–U.S. border. As of the 2020 census, the population was 42,104. The county seat is Okanogan, while the largest city is Omak. Its area is the largest in ...

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 sover ...

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 travels northeast parallel to the

Okanogan River The Okanogan River (known as the Okanagan River in Canada) is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately 115 mi (185 km) long, in southern British Columbia and north central Washington. It drains a scenic plateau region called th ...

from SR 20 in Okanogan to SR 155 Spur in Downtown

Omak Omak ( Merriam (1997), p. 869) is a city located in the foothills of the Okanogan Highlands in north-central Washington, United States. With an estimated 4,845 residents as of 2010, distributed over a land area of , Omak is the largest municipa ...

. SR 215 turns east to end at an intersection with SR 20 and U.S. Route 97 (US 97) in North Omak. The highway was previously part of State Road 10 and Primary State Highway 10 (PSH 10),

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 ...

with US 97, until a bypass of Omak was built in the 1960s. SR 20 was routed onto the highway after the 1964 highway renumbering, but was moved to the bypass and replaced by SR 215 in 1973.

Route description

SR 215 northbound at Tyee Street in Omak, WA

SR 215 begins as 2nd Avenue in Okanogan at an intersection with SR 20, which turns southeast to cross the

. 2nd Avenue crosses over Salmon Creek before it empties into the Okanogan River at Alma Park. The highway continues northeast and passes the

Okanogan Community Library Okanogan (US) or Okanagan (Canada) may refer to: People and regions *Okanagan Country, a divided region in British Columbia and Washington *Okanagan people, a Native American (USA) or First Nations (Canada) people, known as the ''Syilx'' in their ...

before leaving Okanogan for

, becoming Elmway. SR 215 passes the Omak Memorial Cemetery and

Mid-Valley Hospital Mid-Valley Hospital is a 44-bed community hospital in Omak, 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 ...

before becoming Okoma Drive and entering Downtown Omak. The roadway turns east onto 4th Avenue and back north onto Main Street, passing the local post office, before intersecting Omak Avenue, signed as SR 155 Spur. Main Street continues north and passes the Omak campus of

Wenatchee Valley College Wenatchee Valley College (WVC) is a public community college in Wenatchee, Washington. The college provides students with adult education classes, certifications, associate degrees, and four bachelor's degrees. WVC's primary service district is ...

, before turning east onto Riverside Drive and ending at an intersection with SR 20 and US 97. 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 (state), Washington. Establi ...

(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 y ...

(AADT), which is a measure of traffic volume for any average day of the year. In 2011, WSDOT calculated that between 4,200 and 13,000 vehicles per day used the highway, mostly in Downtown Omak.

History

A north–south road connecting Okanogan to

along the

has existed since 1903, and was designated as part of State Road 10 in 1905. The highway was named the

Chelan and Okanogan Highway Primary State Highways were major state highways in the U.S. state of Washington used in the early 20th century. They were created as the first organized road numbering system in the state in stages between 1905 and 1937 and used until the 1964 ...

in 1919 and became part of US 97 in 1926 during 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 hi ...

, and became PSH 10 during the creation of the Primary and secondary state highways in 1937. Beginning in 1962, a bypass of Omak was constructed on the east side of the Okanogan River, and US 97 was re-routed onto it in 1967. SSH 16A was created using the old alignment of US 97 and PSH 10, extending from PSH 16 in Okanogan to US 97 and PSH 10 in Omak. After the 1964 highway renumbering, SSH 16A became part of SR 20 and was signed into law in 1970, however SR 20 was extended east along US 97 and the old route became SR 215 in 1973. No major revisions to the route of the highway has occurred since 1973.

Major intersections

References

External links

Highways of Washington State
{{Omak, Washington

215 Year 215 ( CCXV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Laetus and Sulla (or, less frequently, year 968 ''Ab urbe condita''). ...

Transportation in Okanogan County, Washington