State Route 4 (SR 4) 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 Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...

, serving the southwestern region of 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 so ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. The highway, also known as Ocean Beach Highway, travels east along the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...

from U.S. Route 101 (US 101) at Johnston's Landing through

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

, Wahkiakum and Cowlitz counties to an interchange with

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...

(I-5) in Kelso. SR 4 is designated as part of the Lewis and Clark Trail Scenic Byway, a state scenic byway, as well as part of the National Highway System. The highway, along with I-5 and SR 14, forms the former route of US 830, which ran along the Columbia River from Johnston's Landing to

Maryhill Maryhill () is an area in the north-west of Glasgow in Scotland. A former independent burgh and the heart of an eponymous local authority ward, its territory is bisected by Maryhill Road, part of the A81 road which runs for a distance of ro ...

from 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 h ...

in 1926 until 1968. US 830 was co-signed with Primary State Highway 12 (PSH 12) from Johnston's Landing to Kelso and was created in 1937 as the successor to various unsigned state highways.

Route description

SR 4 begins at an intersection with US 101 at Johnston's Landing, located on the

Naselle River The Naselle River is a river in the U.S. state of Washington. Course The Naselle River originates in the Willapa Hills and flows generally west, passing the community of Naselle before emptying into the southern part of Willapa Bay. Tributaries ...

in rural

Pacific County Pacific County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,365. Its county seat is South Bend, and its largest city is Raymond. The county was formed by the government of Oregon Territory in Febru ...

. The highway, designated as the Lewis and Clark Trail Scenic Byway, travels southeast along the Naselle River and serves as the northern terminus of SR 401 in the

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

Naselle Naselle is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pacific County, Washington, United States located about 23 miles (37 km) from the mouth of the Columbia River. The population was 421 at the 2020 census. The valley's Naselle River flows west ...

before leaving the Naselle River. SR 4 continues east along Salmon Creek and the Deep River into Wahkiakum County before it intersects the former route of SR 403 in Rosburg. The highway travels upstream along the Grays River and turns southeast towards Skamokawa, passing east of the

Julia Butler Hansen Refuge for the Columbian White-Tailed Deer Located in southwestern Washington and northwestern Oregon, United States, the Julia Butler Hansen Refuge for the Columbian White-Tailed Deer is a wildlife refuge. It was established in 1972 specifically to protect and manage the endangered C ...

on the shores of the

. SR 4 continues east through the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Cathlamet and intersects the former terminus of SR 407 and the northern terminus of SR 409. The highway travels into

Cowlitz County Cowlitz County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 110,730. The county seat is Kelso, Washington, Kelso, and its l ...

and intersects the western terminus of SR 432, which serves the Port of Longview, in West Longview. SR 4 continues through the northern part of Longview and passes the campus of the

Lower Columbia College Lower Columbia College (LCC) is a public community college in Longview, Washington. LCC offers over 90 high school diploma, certificate, associate, and bachelor's degree options in eight career pathways. Admissions There are no minimum academi ...

before traveling onto Cowlitz Way. Cowlitz Way intersects the former

spur route A spur route is a short road forming a branch from a longer, more important road such as a freeway, Interstate Highway, or motorway. A Bypass route, bypass or beltway is not considered a spur route as it typically reconnects with another or the ...

of SR 411 and crosses over SR 411 and the

Cowlitz River The Cowlitz River is a river in the state of Washington in the United States, a tributary of the Columbia River. Its tributaries drain a large region including the slopes of Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, and Mount St. Helens. The Cowlitz has a ...

into Kelso before SR 4 splits into a

one-way pair A one-way pair, one-way couple, or couplet refers to that portion of a bi-directional traffic facilitysuch as a road, bus, streetcar, or light rail linewhere its opposing flows exist as two independent and roughly parallel facilities. Descriptio ...

traveling south through downtown Kelso. SR 4 turns east onto Allen Street and continues to its eastern terminus, a

diamond interchange A diamond interchange is a common type of road junction, used where a controlled-access highway crosses a minor road. Design The freeway itself is grade separation, grade-separated from the minor road, one crossing the other over a bridge. ...

with I-5 north of the Three Rivers Mall. 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

annual average daily traffic Annual average daily traffic (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 year divided ...

(AADT), which is a measure of traffic volume for any average day of the year. In 2011, WSDOT calculated that the busiest section of SR 4 was the intersection with Catlin Street in Kelso west of the Cowlitz Way Bridge, serving 34,000 vehicles daily, while the least busy section was between Rosburg and Cathlamet in rural Wahkiakum County, serving less than 1,000 vehicles per day. The entire route of SR 4 is designated as part of the National Highway System, a highway system that includes roadways important to the national economy, defense, and mobility; and as a Highway of Statewide Significance by WSDOT from US 101 at Johnston's Landing to SR 432 in West Longview, which includes highways that connect major communities in the

state of Washington Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

History

The present route of SR 4 was codified into the state highway system in 1915 as State Road 19, connecting

, Cathlamet, Longview, and Kelso along the

. The highway was built by

in the Naselle area and

between

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and Kelso, while the Department of Highways built a road connecting Cathlamet to Skamokawa by 1915. State Road 19 was officially designated as the Ocean Beach Highway in 1919 and renumbered to State Road 12 in 1923. The highway was incorporated into US 830 during the creation of the

in 1926, traveling east along the Columbia River from US 101 at Johnston's Landing to US 97 in

. The highway was paved with the macadam method between Johnston's Landing and Grays River and between Skamokawa and Kelso by 1931. The remaining gap was constructed of gravel by 1933 and the entire highway was paved by 1939. State Road 12 was replaced by PSH 12 in 1937, traveling west from PSH 1 and US 99 in Chehalis to PSH 13 in

Raymond Raymond is a male given name of Germanic origin. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷ� ...

, south on US 101 to Johnston's Landing, and east on US 830 to PSH 1 and US 99 in Kelso. During the 1964 highway renumbering, US 830 replaced PSH 12 between Johnston's Landing and Kelso and was designated as part of the Lewis and Clark Trail Scenic Byway during the creation of the state scenic highway system in 1967. US 830 was decommissioned in 1968 and was replaced with SR 4; however, the highway was proposed as a route for US 12 before it was extended west via

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Major intersections

References

External links

Highways of Washington State
{{DEFAULTSORT:State Route 004

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Transportation in Pacific County, Washington Transportation in Wahkiakum County, Washington Transportation in Cowlitz County, Washington