End of US highway 730 |  |
 Summa |
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Claim to fame: US 730 is a very short highway -- in fact, at just over 41 miles, it is currently theshortest US route. However, WSDoT is in the process of four-laning US 12, and when they complete the segment bypassing Wallula, US 730 will have to be lengthened, and then US 266 will be the shortest. When it was originally commissioned, US 730 was even shorter; this excerpt is from AASHO's Apr. 1927 route log: |  |
US 730 does provide an important connection between two parallel corridors: US 30 in Oregon, and US 12 in Washington (formerly US 410): |  c. 1927, Rand McNally |
The east end of US 730 has always been at Wallula Jct, where the Walla Walla River flows into the Columbia, not far from the Tri Cities of Richland, Pasco, and Kennewick. This junction is shown at the bottom of these topographic maps: |  c. 1964 and 1992, USGS |
That image shows three bridges crossing the Walla Walla River. The bridge on the left is a railroad. The bridge in the center is the modern US 12 bridge; the highway splits into a Y-junction just south of the river. The bridge on the right is the old US 410 bridge. It too formerly split into a Y-junction that is now partially overlapped by the current junction (presumably it was replaced because it was too low for the slackwater from Lake Wallula, formed when the McNary Dam impounded the Columbia). This photo was taken from westbound US 12, or historic US 410: |  Elbert, Feb. 2008 |
On the right side, what is now a roadside park is visible, along with an old road that has been closed off: that is where US 410 split off historically (today travelers can follow that road on foot to see part of the old bridge). Here is a photo showing historic signage from that same perspective: |  (date and attribution unknown) |
Today US 12 splits off about 50 yards ahead; the sign in the distance is shown close-up here: |  Elbert, Feb. 2008 | US 12 traffic is routed north from there, upstream on the Columbia, through Wallula to the Tri Cities. If one goes straight, they are on the east beginning of US 730, heading downstream along the Columbia. Ahead is the first westbound confirming marker: |  Elbert, Feb. 2008 |
These photos were taken from the opposite direction (heading south from Pasco on eastbound US 12). Here US 12 begins curving east (left) towards Walla Walla. To the right is actually a short spur that connects to mainline US 730; the sign posted in the gore is also shown close-up: |  Elbert, Feb. 2008 |  Elbert, Feb. 2008 |
Heading east on US 730, the last reassurance marker was posted just after crossing the OR/WA stateline, about six miles before reaching the terminus: |  Elbert, May 2024 |
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Although US 730 was on the original 1926 list of US routes, it may not have been a drivable road until a few years later. Note that on this map scan, no road is shown running along the south bank of the Columbia: |  c. 1926 |
A 1933 map showed US 730 as a gravel road, and it was paved by the time of a 1936 map. So -- whenever it was that US 730 became a drivable route -- its western terminus was at Umatilla. That is because originally US 30 was routed through town, rather than bypassing it to the south (as it does today). That was still the case at the time of this map. (Incidentally, notice how US 395 also shows up on this map. There was no bridge at Umatilla, so 395 was routed along what is now OR hwy. 37 north and west of Pendleton, and then via US 730 and US 410 [today's US 12] to Tri-Cities WA... more on that below.) |  c. 1941 |
US 30 now runs along a straight shot between Stanfield and Boardman (better known today as I-84). However, US 30's original routing had it going through Hermiston to Umatilla. So US 730 was necessary only as far west as Umatilla. This photo was looking north on Umatilla River Road, or old US 30: |  Elbert, Sep. 2006 |
Historically that was the perspective of a driver on westbound US 30, who would have continued to the left on 6th Avenue via the curved pavement visible at far left. To the right was eastbound at the beginning of US 730. Now that junction has been reconfigured to a more standard T-intersection; across the road from the car visible at far right is the signage shown here: |  Elbert, Sep. 2006 |
Today that is all US 730, but originally that route only ran to the right from that junction. Straight ahead down the hill (not visible in that photo) lies the Columbia River (or more accurately, Lake Umatilla: one of many impoundments that transformed the once-raging river into a placid waterway, now navigable far inland). And way off in the distance, I-82/US 395 is visible, heading towards Washington's Tri-Cities. This photo was looking east on 6th: |  Elbert, Sep. 2006 |
Today that is eastbound US 730 -- the I-82 interchange is visible in the distance, and at the top of the hill on the horizon is where southbound US 395 splits off from US 730. Originally eastbound US 30 came to this point and turned right on River Road, while US 730 began straight ahead; the photo below was taken back when that was still the arrangement:
Courtesy of Joel Windmiller, attribution unknown, date prior to 1942
US 30 was a busy road from the beginning, so it did not take long to build the modern cutoff. It was completed in 1942; it was shown on this map. So it became necessary to extend the US 730 designation west from Umatilla along old US 30. But old US 30 did not follow the same road as modern US 730 -- it ran roughly parallel to it, a couple miles to the west, and joined the new US 30 at Boardman (that is, in the town of Boardman itself): |  c. 1953 |
Here, we are looking east on Columbia Boulevard -- this was formerly US 30, which originally continued to the left. But after the cutoff was built, US 30 traffic was routed along it to the right (via today's I-84 corridor): |  Elbert, Sep. 2006 |
The westbound offramp is visible at far right -- US 30 went more or less straight from the camera through there, and US 730 began straight ahead, quickly curving to the left along original US 30. Next we are looking the opposite direction: |  Elbert, Dec. 2004 |
Originally that was westbound US 30. But after 1942, US 30 came in from the left, and US 730 ended there.
US 730 was rerouted between Boardman and Irrigon in 1966, because the John Day Dam was under construction (when it was completed in 1971, Lake Umatilla was formed, and it inundated a segment of old US 30-730). Since then, the west end of US 730 has been at Boardman Jct (or I-84's interchange 168, aka Irrigon Jct). But note that some maps (including official Oregon state DoT maps as recent as 1998) still show US 730 routed along the old road.
US 730 was rerouted between Boardman and Irrigon in 1966, because the John Day Dam was under construction (when it was completed in 1971, Lake Umatilla was formed, and it inundated a segment of old US 30-730). Since then, the west end of US 730 has been at Boardman Jct (or I-84's interchange 168, aka Irrigon Jct). But note that some maps (including official Oregon state DoT maps as recent as 1998) still show US 730 routed along the old road.
Here is approach signage from eastbound I-84: |  Elbert, Dec. 2004 | It is a somewhat unusual interchange, hence the diagram. Ahead is more conventional signage: |  Elbert, Dec. 2004 |
After exiting there, the first confirming marker is posted at the onramp to westbound I-84...
| Actually, as of 2019 there were several OR 730 signs in the area, but within a few years at least some of them had been replaced with the correct shield:  Elbert, Mar. 2024 |
These photos were taken from the opposite direction, at the end of US 730; the overpass is I-84. The westbound on-ramp is goes right; eastbound goes under, curves around to the right, and then back left. The upcoming sign is shown close-up: |  Morrison, Jan. 2019 |  Elbert, Feb. 2008 (same as of 2019) |
There is nothing in Boardman Jct. except... well, a junction. The actual town of Boardman is a few miles west. Pendleton is east on US 30/I-84. Heppner is south via Bombing Range Road, the north end of which connects to this interchange, on the south side of the overpass. The green sign that is visible at an angle in the photo above is shown head-on here: |  Field/Nitzman, Aug. 2006 (same as of 2019) |
That was at the bottom of the off-ramp from westbound I-84, at the west beginning of US 730. Irrigon is north on US 730, about halfway to Umatilla. Lexington is another town to the south, off Bombing Range Rd. This last shot was from northbound Bombing Range, approaching interchange 168 and the beginning of US 730: |  Elbert, Feb. 2008 |
On the 1941 map above, US 395 was shown to follow a different route than it does today. That was actually the case all the way up until 1987 (which is when US 395 was rerouted onto I-82 north of Umatilla). In other words: starting in 1934, the entirety of US 730 in Washington (all six miles of it) shared pavement with 395. Because of that, at some point WSDoT stopped signposting US 730. Chris Elbert drove those roads often during the 1980s, and recalls during that time WSDoT did not sign US 730 at all in their state until 1987. US 395 was well-signed, but US 730 was not dual-signed with it in WA. Rather, after 395 had been rerouted, WSDoT simply replaced their 395 signs with 730 signs.
Research and/or photocredits: Chris Elbert; Andy Field; Jeff Morrison; Alex Nitzman; Dale Sanderson; Michael Summa; Stephen Taylor; Mike Wiley; Joel Windmiller
Page originally created 2000;
last updated May 12, 2024.
last updated May 12, 2024.
