State Route 230 (SR 230) is a legislated, but unconstructed,
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 ...
to be located in
Adams and
Whitman counties in 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 ...
. The highway would begin at a junction with
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 ...
highways
Interstate 90
Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...
(I-90) and
U.S. Route 395
U.S. Route 395 (US 395) is a U.S. Route in the western United States. The southern terminus of the route is in the Mojave Desert at Interstate 15 near Hesperia. The northern terminus is at the Canada–US border near Laurier, where the road ...
(US 395) near
Ritzville
Ritzville () is a city in Adams County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,673 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Adams County. The city is part of the Othello, WA Micropolitan Area, which comprises all of Adams County, ...
and travel east to an intersection with
SR 23 near
Ewan
Ewan is an anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic name Eòghann. It is possibly a derivative of the Pictish name, ''Vuen'' (or 'Wen'), "The Warrior" or "born of the mountain". It is most common as a male given name in Scotland and Canada. I ...
.
Plans for the first highway first emerged in 1943 as an extension of
Primary State Highway 18 (PSH 18) to be studied after the conclusion of
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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. It was renumbered to SR 230 in 1964, but no further action was taken on constructing the highway.
Route description
The ''
Revised Code of Washington The Revised Code of Washington (RCW) is the compilation of all permanent laws currently in force in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. Temporary laws such as appropriations acts are excluded. It is published by the Washington State S ...
'' describes SR 230 as an east–west route that begins at a junction with
I-90
Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...
(concurrent with
US 395) near
Ritzville
Ritzville () is a city in Adams County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,673 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Adams County. The city is part of the Othello, WA Micropolitan Area, which comprises all of Adams County, ...
. The highway would travel east "by the most feasible route" to
SR 23 near
Ewan
Ewan is an anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic name Eòghann. It is possibly a derivative of the Pictish name, ''Vuen'' (or 'Wen'), "The Warrior" or "born of the mountain". It is most common as a male given name in Scotland and Canada. I ...
, a rural community in
Whitman County.
A 1956 map showed an alignment that passed Finnell and Crane lakes before dipping south and turning northeast. The
Washington State Highway Commission
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 ...
estimated the total length of the corridor to be in a 1960 report.
The two areas are generally connected by local roads, including Urquhart and Harder roads in
Adams County, but they are not rated for all-weather use. Ritzville and Ewan are connected by I-90 and SR 23, which intersect in
Sprague
Sprague may refer to:
Places
;Canada
* Sprague, Manitoba, a small town near the Minnesota/Manitoba border
;United States
* Sprague, Alabama, Montgomery County, Alabama
* Sprague, Connecticut
* Sprague, Missouri
* Sprague, Nebraska
* Sprague ...
.
History
The Ritzville–Ewan highway was first proposed in a 1943 bill by state senator
Elmer C. Huntley of
St. John.
It was designated as a branch of
Primary State Highway 18 (PSH 18) between Ritzville and Steptoe, connecting US 395 to
US 195. The highway would use several existing county roads from Ewan to Steptoe that ranged from oiled to graded gravel.
In 1945, Huntley lobbied for an
earmark of over $1.5 million (equivalent to $ in ) to be set aside for the project to be used after
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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The new section would cut the driving distance from Ritzville to
Colfax by and was anticipated to become "one of the principal, if not the principal" east–west highways in the region.
A 1960 report from the Washington State Highway Commission estimated that it would cost $3.26 million (equivalent to $ in ) to construct the highway within a 15-year timeframe.
During the
1964 state highway renumbering, the PSH 18 branch was replaced by two new state routes: SR 23 between Steptoe and Ewan, which continued north on Secondary State Highway 11C (SSH 11C) through Sprague; and SR 230 for the unbuilt section between Ritzville and Ewan. An evaluation of unbuilt highway projects by the state government published in 1972 determined that constructing SR 230 would have a low
cost–benefit ratio and serve little traffic. The legal definition of SR 23, the highway's proposed eastern terminus, was amended during the 1987 legislative session to remove a reference to a junction with SR 230.
Major intersections
See also
*
Washington State Route 168 - another legislated but unconstructed state highway
References
External links
Highways of Washington State
{{State highways in Washington related to SR 23
230
Year 230 (Roman numerals, CCXXX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Agricola and Clementinus (or, less frequently, year ...
Proposed state highways in the United States
Transportation in Adams County, Washington
Transportation in Whitman County, Washington