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 Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...
to be located in
Adams and
Whitman counties in the U.S. state of
Washington. The highway would begin at a junction with
concurrent highways
Interstate 90 (I-90) and
U.S. Route 395 (US 395) near
Ritzville and travel east to an intersection with
SR 23 near
Ewan.
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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. 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 (concurrent with
US 395) near
Ritzville. The highway would travel east "by the most feasible route" to
SR 23 near
Ewan, 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 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.
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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. 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
Proposed state highways in the United States
Transportation in Adams County, Washington
Transportation in Whitman County, Washington