US Route 99 in the vicinity of the cities of Mount Vernon, Burlington and Bellingham was carried by various alignments between 1926-1969. The original alignment which was inherited from the Pacific Highway followed the highly scenic Chuckanut Drive. Chuckanut Drive later became US Route 99 Alternate in 1937 following the completion of the Lake Samish bypass. A second US Route 99 Alternate was designated in 1952 from Bellingham north to the Canadian border via Secondary State Highway 1B. In the waning years of US Route 99 the highway was subject to further realignments as Interstate 5 was constructed. This blog serves as a history of the alignments of US Route 99 in Mount Vernon, Burlington and Bellingham.
The many branches of US Route 99 branching from Bellingham can be seen on the 1956 Shell Highway map of Washington.
This blog is part of the larger Gribblenation US Route 99 Page. For more information pertaining to the other various segments of US Route 99 and its three-digit child routes check out the link the below.
Part 1; the history of US Route 99 in Mount Verson, Burlington and Bellingham
Mount Vernon is the Skagit County seat and is located south of the Skagit River. The modern community began to develop in the early 1870s and obtained Post Office service during November 1877. The name "Mount Vernon" was intended to in reference to the planation once owned by George Washington. Mount Vernon was selected as the Skagit County seat when it was split from Whatcom County on November 28, 1883. The community would incorporate as a city on July 5, 1889.
Burlington is located north of the Skagit River in Skagit County. The community was established by John P. Millett and William McKay in 1882 as a logging camp north of Mount Vernon. The community would later incorporate as a city on June 16, 1902.
What is now the city of Bellingham was first settled by European immigrants when built a sawmill in 1852. In 1854 the area which now comprises the neighborhood of Sehome was sold to investors due to the discovery of a large coal seam. During the same year Whatcom would be plotted and would become the original Whatcom County seat. In 1883 the town of Fairhaven was plotted south of the communities of Whatcom and Sehome. Fairhaven would annex the small community of Bellingham in 1890 which was followed by Sehome and Whatcom merging in 1891. Fairhaven and Whatcom would later combine and incorporate as Bellingham on December 28, 1903. Bellingham inherited the Whatcom County seat via the incorporation.
A roadway following the shore from Blanchard to Fairhaven (now part of Bellingham) is known to have existed since the 1860s. The early roadway was located near the waterline at the foot of the Chuckanut Mountains and was prone to flooding. By 1892 a higher-level road resembling modern-day Chuckanut Drive had been constructed. This corridor would become one of the earliest roadways in Washington to be maintained as state inventory.
In 1896 the roadway along shoreline was rebuilt to facilitate the needs of the logging industry. In 1901 a three-mile portion of the highway corridor would be sold by Skagit County to the Great Northern Railway. Skagit County would obtain funding to build a paved roadway between Bow and Bellingham in 1905, but the earmarked allocations ran short after construction of only a couple miles.
As auto and bicycle touring increased in popularity in the Bellingham area, local business partners and entrepreneurs Cyrus Gates and Charles X. Larrabee, envisioned a scenic roadway overlooking the Samish and Chuckanut Bays and Strait of Juan de Fuca. They surveyed the land where a road could be built alongside the cliffs. They also helped influence the Washington State Legislature to appropriate $25,000 in 1909 for construction of a road on the flanks of Chuckanut Mountain. At this time, Chuckanut Drive was known as the Waterfront Road.
In 1910, when Washington State built a labor camp at the mouth of Oyster Creek, convicts began building the road on a route suggested by Gates and Larrabee. Ultimately the convict laborers were found to be wanting in terms of experience and Washington Department of Highways would contract out the remaining construction of Chuckanut Drive to Quigg Construction Company in 1913.
In 1913 the Pacific Highway was established as an organized Auto Trail Association borne out of the Good Roads movement. Said Auto Trail was founded by Sam Hill who acted as the President of the Pacific Highway Association. The purpose of the Auto Trail was to create a singular Sign Route between San Diego, California north to Vancouver, British Columbia.
Within Washington the Pacific Highway was codified as a State Highway by way of 1913 Legislative Chapter 65.
Chuckanut Drive would be completed as an automotive highway during 1916. The corridor was originally a gravel surface which carried the Pacific Highway. This segment was largely surfaced by the Washington Department of Highways in 1921. The highway would be further modernized in 1924 when the tee-beam Oyster Creek Bridge was completed.
The US Route System was formally approved by the American Association of State Highway Engineers (AASHO) on November 11, 1926. which formally brought US Route 99 into existence. US Route 99 overlaid the existing Pacific Highway (in Washington) and Primary State Highway 1. The description of US Route 99 can be seen on the November 11, 1926, AASHO descriptions of the US Routes in Washington State.
The original alignment of US Route 99 in Bellingham followed 12th Street, 11th Street, State Street, Holly Street, Prospect Street, Dupont Street, Elm Avenue and Northwest Avenue. US Route 99 originally followed Northwest Avenue towards Ferndale but was realigned in the early 1930s onto Maplewood Avenue.
In 1931 the Washington Highway Commission selected the location of a bypass of Chuckanut Drive via Lake Samish. Mainline US Route 99 was shifted east to the new alignment Lake Samish bypass upon completion during 1937. The original highway alignment via Chuckanut Drive was retained as US Route 99 Alternate. Both corridors between Burlington-Bellingham were retained as spurs of Primary State Highway 1.
US Route 99 and US Route 99 Alternate can both be seen as Primary State Route 1 on the 1937 Washington Department of Highways map. The Lake Samish bypass routing heading northbound from Burlington used by mainline US Route 99 followed what is now Old Highway 99 Road North, Pacific Highway, part of the grade of modern Interstate 5 and Samish Way. US Route 99 followed Samish Way into Bellingham where it consolidated with US Route 99 Alternate at State Street via Maple Street, Ellias Street and Holly Street.
The 1943 United States Geological Survey map of Mount Vernon displays the original alignment of US Route 99 in Mount Vernon and Burlington. Heading northbound US Route 99 can be seen passing through Mount Vernon via what is now Old Highway 99 Road South, 2nd Street, 4th Street and Riverside Drive. The highway is shown crossing the Skagit River and passing through Burlington via Burlington Boulevard. North of Burlington US Route 99 Alternate can be seen branching away via Chuckanut Drive whereas mainline US Route 99 is displayed following Burlington Boulevard.
On June 11, 1952, the Washington State Highway Commission submitted an application to the American Association of State Highway Officials to add Secondary State Highway 1B north of Bellingham to the Canadian border as a bannered US Route 99 Alternate. The State Highway Commission letter noted the purpose for this bannered route was to allow traffic north of Bellingham to better connect with roads to Alaskan via the then unfinished John Hart Highway and Alcan Highway. The bannered alternate was approved during the July 17, 1952, Executive Committee despite it not conforming to existing guidelines on intra-state US Routes. This led to the bizarre circumstance which US Route 99 had three endpoints at the Canadian border factoring the two existing terminuses located near Blaine.
US Route 99 Alternate north of Bellingham departed from US Route 99 in Bellingham via Second State Route 1B. The alternate corridor can be seen departing the mainline highway via Broadway and Meridian Street on the 1954 United States Geological Survey map of Bellingham North.
The Chuckanut Drive segment of US Route 99 Alternate and mainline US Route 99 can be seen consolidating in downtown Bellingham at the intersection of State Street and Holly Street on the 1954 United States Geological Survey map of Bellingham South.
US Route 99 was realigned onto a bypass freeway of Mount Vernon and Burlington in 1955. The opening of the new freeway included a four-lane truss bridge over the Skagit River.
The many branches of US Route 99 branching from Bellingham can be seen on the 1956 Shell Highway map of Washington. US Route 99 can be seen with two bannered alternates originating from Bellingham. The southern US Route 99 Alternate following the original mainline corridor south of Bellingham to Burlington via Chuckanut Drive. The northern US Route 99 Alternate followed Second State Highway 1B through Laurel and the Lynden area to British Columbia Highway 13 at the Canadian border. The same map also displays the then recently opened freeway bypass of Mount Verson and Burlington.
On June 29, 1956, the Federal Highway Aid Act of 1956 was signed into law on the Federal Level. The Federal Highway Aid Act of 1956 was the genesis point of the Interstate Highway System which would in the coming decade sew the demise via of US Route 99 in Washington via replacement by Interstate 5.
The Interstate 5 bypass of Bellingham rerouted the mainline of US Route 99 onto the then new freeway and bridged the two discontinuous segments of US Route 99 Alternate via downtown. The Bellingham bypass freeway opened to traffic on December 5, 1960, and tied into Portal Way north of Ferndale. The ribbon cutting ceremony for this segment was featured in the December 5, 1960, Bellingham Hearld. The left newspaper photo shows US Route 99 co-signed with Interstate 5.
Mainline US Route 99 can be seen shifted onto the Interstate 5 bypass of Bellingham on the
1961 Washington Department of Highways map. The map also displays US Route 99 Alternate is shown being extended through downtown Bellingham.
As part of the 1964 Washington State Highway renumbering the Primary State Highways and Secondary State Highways were dropped. Chuckanut Drive was reassigned as part of Washington State Route 11 between Burlington and Bellingham. It doesn't appear the corridor was intended to be retained as a bannered US Route 99 Alternate.
The 1964 Washington State Highway Renumbering retained US Route 99 Alternate along what was Secondary State Highway 1B north of Bellingham to British Columbia Highway 13.
Interstate 5 south of Bellingham to the existing freeway at the northern outskirts of Burlington opened in three stages in 1966. The ribbon cutting ceremony for the completed Lake Samish portion of Interstate 5 was featured in the November 3, 1966, Bellingham Herald.
On June 24, 1969, the AASHO Executive Commitee approved a request by the Washington State Highway Commission to eliminate US Route 99 in Washington. The Washington State Highway Commission approved a motion to eliminate US Route 99 on April 22, 1969. The justification to eliminate US Route 99 in Washington State was to avoid confusion and cost associated with signing the highway concurrent on much of Interstate 5.
Following the deletion of US Route 99 the corridor of Interstate 5 functionally became a standalone Sign Route designation the freeway between Mount Vernon-Bellingham. US Route 99 Alternate north of Bellingham to British Columbia Highway 13 was reassigned as Washington State Route 539.
During November 1972 Washington State Route 11 was realigned out of downtown Bellingham onto the then newly completed Valley Parkway (now Old Fairhaven Parkway). Valley Parkway had been commissioned as Washington State Route 110 (also Secondary State Highway 1F) in 1967.
The completed Valley Parkway can be seen as part of Washington State Route 11 in a
November 5, 1972, Bellingham Herald article. Prior to being realigned Washington State Route 11 passed through downtown Bellingham via State Street to the Iowa Street interchange with Interstate 5.
Part 2; visiting components of former US Route 99 in Mount Vernon, Burlington and Bellingham
Modern Interstate 5 between Mount Vernon and Burlington still utilizes the Skagit River Bridge which was constructed as part of US Route 99 in 1955. This four-span truss partially collapsed on May 23, 2013, when an overloaded and over height truck heading southbound struck parts of the structure and caused a truss span to collapse. The collapsed truss span was replaced by the end of the year which negated traffic having to detour onto former surface routings of US Route 99. The span is now named the "Trooper John M. O'Connell Jr. Memorial Bridge" in honor of a Washington State Patrol Officer who was struck and killed on May 31, 2013, while working to redirect traffic on Interstate 5.
A small portion of former US Route 99 on Burlington Boulevard in Burlington between Rio Vista Avenue and Avon Avenue now carries Washington State Route 20.
Interstate 5 Exit 231 in Burlington permits access to former alignments of US Route 99 on Chuckanut Drive (Washington State Route 11) and Burlington Boulevard.
Chuckanut Drive and Washington State Route 11 cross over Interstate 5 towards and head towards the community of Bow.
Upon departing Burlington traffic on Chuckanut Drive is advised of a 18,000-weight limit 9 miles ahead.
Chuckanut Drive continues north through Skagit Valley and intersects Bow Hill Road. Bow Hill Road permits access to the namesake community of Bow. The community was settled as Brownsville in 1869 and later saw a railroad boom in the 1890s. The origin of the community's current name of "Bow" isn't fully clear.
Chuckanut Drive passes through the siding community of Blanchard and crosses over the railroad grade via the Colony Creek Bridge. This structure is a concrete tee-beam design which was constructed in 1931 as part of US Route 99.
The 18,000-pound weight restriction on Chuckanut Drive begins north of the Colony Creek Bridge.
Chuckanut Drive continues north and crosses the 1924-era Oyster Creek Bridge.
Chuckanut Drive north of the Oyster Creek Bridge has numerous scenic turnouts which overlook the waters immediately west of the highway.
Chuckanut Drive passes through Larabee State Park and enters the small community of Chuckanut.
Chuckanut Drive passes through Chuckanut and enters the city of Bellingham while passing above Chuckanut Bay.
Chuckanut Drive terminates at 12th Street in the Fairhaven neighborhood of Bellingham. Washington State Route 11 follows the original alignment along 12th Street to Old Fairhaven Parkway. Modern Washington State Route 11 makes a right hand turn on Old Fairhaven Parkway whereas US Route 99 and later US Route 99 Alternate would have continued north on 12th Street.
This view along northbound Interstate 5 is part of the US Route 99 bypass of Bellingham which opened in 1960. Exit 255 permits access to Washington State Route 542 and Mount Baker.
Interstate 5 Exit 256A-B is where mainline US Route 99 would have intersected the northern US Route 99 Alternate between 1960-1969.
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