 State Route 26 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 SR 26 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byWSDOT | ||||
| Length | 133.61 mi[1] (215.02 km) | |||
| Existed | 1964[2]–present | |||
| Tourist routes |  Palouse Scenic Byway | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |  I-90 nearVantage | |||
| Major intersections | ||||
| East end |  US 195 inColfax | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Washington | |||
| Counties | Grant,Adams,Whitman | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
State Route 26 (SR 26) is astate highway in centralWashington in the United States. It travels east–west for 114 miles (183 km) fromInterstate 90 (I-90) nearVantage toU.S. Route 195 (US 195) inColfax. The highway intersects several major north–south highways, includingSR 24,SR 17,US 395, andSR 261 before ending in Colfax. The route serves as a connector between Vantage,Royal City,Othello,Washtucna,La Crosse, and Colfax.
The easternmost section of SR 26, betweenDusty and Colfax was formerly part of theInland Empire Highway andUS 295 for most of the early 20th century. The rest of modern SR 26 was added to the state highway system in 1937 and 1951 as Secondary State Highway 11B (SSH 11B) from Washtucna to Dusty and SSH 7C from Vantage to Washtucna, respectively. The two highways were combined to form SR 26 in the1964 state highway renumbering, but several sections of the highway were not completed until the 1970s. SR 26 initially terminated at Dusty, but was extended to Colfax overSR 127 in 1979.
SR 26 begins at an interchange withI-90 on the east end of theVantage Bridge on theColumbia River, opposite the town ofVantage and theGinkgo/Wanapum State Park. The highway travels south for one mile (1.6 km) to the mouth of the Sand Hollow, where it intersectsSR 243, which continues downriver toMattawa and theVernita Bridge.[3] SR 26 turns southeast and travels up the barren Sand Hollow to the Royal Slope and its irrigated fields, situated between theFrenchman Hills to the north and theSaddle Mountains to the south. The highway continues east across the plateau's farms and turns southeast atRoyal City, near which it intersectsSR 262. SR 26 crosses into theColumbia National Wildlife Refuge in the foothills of the Saddle Mountains and entersAdams County nearTauhton.[4]
The highway follows a section of theRoyal Slope Railroad, operated by thePort of Royal Slope and connecting to theColumbia Basin Railroad, intoOthello.[5][6] SR 26 crosses overSR 24, which it intersects via two side streets, and continues along the southern outskirts of the city to an interchange withSR 17. From Othello, the highway runs east across the rural Paradise Flats, home toOthello Municipal Airport and a field research outpost for theWashington State University'sIrrigated Agricultural Research and Extension Center.[7] SR 26 then descends into theHatton Coulee, where it reaches arest area and an interchange withUS 395, a freeway that connects to theTri-Cities. The highway continues east across the Rattlesnake Flat, where it intersectsSR 21, and descends into Washtucna Coulee. SR 26 reaches the town ofWashtucna, where it intersects the concurrentSR 260 andSR 261, which continue south toKahlotus and north toRitzville, respectively.[3][4]
SR 26 follows theColumbia Plateau Trail and thePalouse River through the rough terrain of thePalouse.[8] It crosses intoWhitman County east ofHooper, where the state-ownedPalouse River and Coulee City Railroad splits from theUnion Pacific Railroad.[9][10] The highway continues to follow the railroad, now traveling along Willow Creek, and passes the town ofLa Crosse and itsmunicipal airport. SR 26 crosses several miles of farms in the rolling Palouse hills before reachingDusty and an intersection withSR 127, which connects withUS 12 on the south side of theSnake River.[3] After following Alkali Flat Creek for a short distance, the highway turns northeasterly and ascends a section of the Palouse. SR 26 passes thePort of Whitman Business Air Center Airport andWhitman County Fairgrounds before rejoining the railroad and Palouse River at the west end ofColfax.[8] The highway crosses the river and travels through an industrial area before terminating at an intersection withUS 195 on the north side of downtown Colfax.[4] A shortspur route connects to southbound US 195 by crossing over a section of the Palouse River.[11] The section between Hooper and Colfax is defined as part of thePalouse Scenic Byway, which encompasses a number of state highways in the Palouse region.[12]
SR 26 is maintained by theWashington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), which conducts an annual survey on the state's highways to measure traffic volume in terms ofannual average daily traffic. Average daily traffic volumes on the highway in 2016 ranged from a minimum of 1,200 vehicles on the section between SR 21 and Wastucna to a maximum of 7,000 vehicles west of Othello.[13] The entire route of SR 26 and its spur route are designated as part of theNational Highway System, a network of roads identified as important to the national economy, defense, and mobility.[14][15][16] SR 26 is also considered the main link betweenWestern Washington and the Washington State University campus inPullman and sees a noticeable spike in traffic during football games and school holidays.[17][18] The highway is characterized as "dull and boring" by students, prompting towns along the route attempting to lure drivers with scenicguidebooks and posters.[19][20]
The easternmost section of SR 26 roughly follows the Old Territorial Road, amilitary road constructed in the 1870s betweenFort Walla Walla toFort Colville, passing through the Palouse.[21] The road was improved by county governments and incorporated into theInland Empire Highway, part of the initial system of state-designated highways adopted in 1913.[22][23] The highway was numbered as State Road 3 in 1923 and split between several highways under the federal government's system enacted in 1926, includingUS 295 betweenDodge andColfax.[24][25]
The state legislature reformed the highway system in 1937, adopting a new numbering scheme consisting of primary and secondary routes, and took over maintenance of roads usinggas tax revenues.[26][27] The Inland Empire Highway becamePrimary State Highway 3 (PSH 3) and a county road fromConnell toWashtucna andDusty was designated as Secondary State Highway 11B (SSH 11B).[28] The remainder of modern-day SR 26, from Vantage to Washtucna, was little more than a collection of unpaved local roads that ran further north along Crab Creek.[29] SSH 7C was established by a legislative act in 1951, intending to replace existing county roads from a junction withPSH 7 (US 10) on the east side of theVantage Bridge toPSH 11 (US 395) near Othello.[30] The highway was then extended east to Washtucna in 1957 and supplemented with a branch route connecting to theVernita ferry on SSH 11A.[31] The Othello–Washtucna highway and a series of connectingfarm-to-market roads were built from 1957 to 1965 by the state highway department, bypassing existing county roads.[32][33][34] The Vantage–Othello highway was completed concurrently in the early 1950s.[35][36]
SR 26 was established during the1964 state highway renumbering, which instituted a system of sign routes (now state routes) to replace the earlier system of primary and secondary highways.[37] SR 26 was created as a new east–west trunk highway and replaced all of SSH 7C and the eastern half of SSH 11B, terminating in the west near Vantage and in the east at Dodge.[38] US 295 was decommissioned from the national highway system in 1967[39] and wholly replaced bySR 127.[citation needed] SR 127 was truncated to its present terminus at Dusty in 1979, allowing SR 26 to be extended east to Colfax.
A couple of recent and current construction projects are occurring along SR 26.[40] One of which, involves illuminating the highway's intersection with B SE, which was finished in 2008, and Reynolds Road, to be done in 2009, west and east ofOthello, respectively.[41] Another project added a left turn lane at a dangerous intersection between SR 26 and South Thacker Road west of Othello.[42] The most major of the recent projects include the addition and demolition of ramps at theI-90 interchange.[43] Another minor project, a bridge fixing project, was completed in 2007, located northeast of Dusty and southwest ofColfax.[44]
Collisions on the highway, blamed partly on Washington State University traffic, have prompted new initiatives to improve its safety. Newpassing lanes are scheduled to be constructed by 2025 as part of the statewide transportation package passed in 2015, but fatal collisions in the 2010s led to petitioning from students and families for accelerated safety projects.[45][46]
 State Route 26 Spur | |
|---|---|
| Location | Colfax |
| Length | 0.07 mi[1] (110 m) |
| Existed | 1979–present |
SR 26 has a shortspur route in Colfax that runs for 0.07 miles (0.11 km),[1] connecting the highway to the southbound lanes of US 195. The two-lane road crosses the Palouse River and merges with US 195 in anuncontrolledY intersection at the north end of downtown Colfax.[4][11] In its annual traffic counts, WSDOT measured adaily average of 3,200 vehicles using the spur route.[13]
| County | Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grant | | 0.00 | 0.00 | I-90 –Spokane,Seattle | Interchange |
| | 1.02 | 1.64 |     SR 243 south toSR 24 –Yakima,Richland | ||
| | 25.32 | 40.75 |   SR 262 east / Road A Southeast –Potholes State Park | ||
| Adams | Othello | 40.58 | 65.31 |  SR 24 west (via South 1st Avenue) –Yakima,Othello | |
| | 42.58 | 68.53 |  SR 17 –Moses Lake,Pasco | Interchange | |
| | 60.96 | 98.11 |  US 395 –Ritzville,Spokane,Pasco | Interchange | |
| | 70.67 | 113.73 |  SR 21 –Lind,Kahlotus | ||
| Washtucna | 83.07 | 133.69 |   SR 260 west /SR 261 –Ritzville,Kahlotus | ||
| Whitman | Dusty | 117.00 | 188.29 |   SR 127 south toUS 12 –Walla Walla | |
| Colfax | 133.52 | 214.88 |   SR 26 Spur south toUS 195 –Colfax,Pullman | ||
| 133.61 | 215.02 |  US 195 north –Spokane | |||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||
