WASHINGTON STATE ROUTE 99

'State Route 99', abbreviated 'SR 99', commonly called 'Highway 99', is a numbered state highway in the U.S. state of Washington extending just over 50 miles from Fife in the south to Everett in the north.

Contents

Route description

Designated alignments

History

Major Intersections/Exits

Notes

External links

Route description

SR 99 originates at Interstate 5 in Fife, near its own intersection with 54th Avenue E. From there, it heads eastward to Federal Way and intersects SR 18 just west of its interchange with I-5. It then begins to travel north, through Des Moines, overlapping SR 509 for a few miles. The route becomes a little difficult to identify for several miles, as there are no reassurance signs until entering SeaTac. Once there, it becomes International Boulevard and forms the eastern boundary of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport until crossing SR 518, where it becomes Pacific Highway South and becomes a suburban thoroughfare.
SR 99 enters Seattle near the Interurban neighborhood, and enters a freeway alignment borrowed from the terminus of SR 599. This freeway alignment is known as West Marginal Way, and maintains its status and name until a complicated interchange with SR 509 at the southern end of the First Avenue South Bridge. The designation passes over the bridge and onto East Marginal Way which transects the industrial and warehouse district known as Sodo. Near the eastern end of the West Seattle Bridge, SR 99 returns to freeway status along a surface portion of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. SR 99 follows the viaduct to its terminus in the north at the Battery Street Tunnel, a route it continues along.
Once SR 99 exits from the tunnel, it continues through the neighborhoods of North Seattle as Aurora Avenue North. Aurora Avenue snakes its way around Queen Anne Hill, crosses the Lake Washington Ship Canal on the George Washington Memorial Bridge (1932), bisects Woodland Park and escapes the city and county near Shoreline at an interchange with SR 104 in Edmonds as Pacific Highway North.
North of Edmonds, SR 99 enters Lynnwood, where it is known as Highway 99. After a brief journey through Lynnwood, SR 99 enters Everett, where it becomes known as 'Evergreen Way', until 3 miles south of its terminus, where it follows another route known as Everett Mall Way. SR 99 passes the Mall near its interchange/intersection with Interstate 5, SR 526, and SR 527.

Designated alignments

SR 99 is designated along the following streets from south to north:

★ 54th Avenue East

★ Pacific Highway East

★ 70th Avenue East

★ Pacific Highway South

★ Tukwila International Boulevard

★ West Marginal Way

★ First Avenue South Bridge

★ East Marginal Way

★ Alaskan Way Viaduct

★ Battery Street Tunnel

★ Aurora Avenue North

★ Highway 99

★ Evergreen Way

★ Everett Mall Way

History

★ SR 99 is a short remnant of US 99. SR 99 is primarily the route of US 99 where building Interstate 5 would have been prohibitively expensive, or would not have served the greater good. Also, with the exception of the freeway sections, and from the Battery Street Tunnel to the north side of the George Washington Bridge (Aurora Bridge), SR 99 is tightly lined with stores, making any expansion nearly impossible.

★ SR 99 used to be both US 99 and Primary State Highway (PSH) 1. As I-5 was built, these designations were moved to the new alignments from state line to international border until I-5 began being designated over the route. They were then co-signed briefly, and later, around the time of the 1964 state highway renumbering, SR 99 was redesignated over much of its former route. Slowly, over time, SR 99 was cut back to the current routing from Fife to Everett.

★ US 99 used to be routed through the downtown Seattle streets. When the viaduct was built and US 99 was transferred to it, the old route became U.S. Route 99 Alternate (later Business).

★ SR 99's former northern terminus was in downtown Everett. However, shortly after the opening of the Boeing Freeway and the Everett Mall, SR 99 was rerouted via Everett Mall Way to terminate at the interchange of the Boeing Freeway (SR 526), SR 527, and I-5.

★ On the Alaskan Way Viaduct, near its southern terminus, there are ghost ramps on the east side of the structure. These were the only interchange structures created when the viaduct was first built in anticipation of the US 10 freeway (now Interstate 90) being completed into Seattle, and being extended to SR/US 99. However, the construction of Qwest Field and Safeco Field have made the possibility of this occurring remote. Some other connection may be made when the viaduct is replaced in the near future.

★ Many cities and towns along the I-5 corridor in Washington have streets named 'Highway 99', 'Old Highway 99', or 'Pacific Highway' all used to be part of US-99. Those cities with the streets still designated 'Highway 99' can cause confusion with people unfamiliar with the area, as they expect the street to be part of SR-99. This is most apparent in Vancouver, Washington whose "Hwy 99" is often confused for a state route.

★ To this day, an older US 99 sign is still in place on an overhead sign at the Columbia Street onramp to the Alaskan Way Viaduct in downtown Seattle.

Major Intersections/Exits

County	Location	Mile	#	Destinations	Notes
'BEGIN Surface Arterial'
Pierce	Fife	0.00	N/A	I-5, SB - Portland NB - Seattle
			N/A	Pacific Highway East, 54th Avenue E.
King	Federal Way		N/A	S. 348th Street
			N/A	'South' SR 161/Enchanted Parkway
			N/A	S. 320th Street
	Kent		N/A	S. 272nd Street
			N/A	Kent-Des Moines Road
	Seatac		N/A	S. 188th Street
			N/A	Sea-Tac Airport, S. 182nd Place
			N/A		Eastbound on-ramp only
	Tukwila		N/A	'WB', S. 154th Street
			N/A	Tukwila International Blvd.
'BEGIN Freeway'
King County	Seattle		N/A	West Marginal Place S.	Northbound ramps only
			N/A	Des Moines Memorial Drive, 14th Avenue S.
			N/A	S. Cloverdale Street	Northbound on-ramp only
			N/A	S. Kenyon Street, 5th Avenue S.	Southbound ramps only
			N/A
			N/A	S. Michigan Street	Northbound exit only
		'END Freeway'
			N/A	East Marginal Way
			N/A	1st Avenue S.
			N/A	East Marginal Way, Alaskan Way
		'BEGIN Freeway'
			N/A	West Seattle Bridge, S. Spokane Street	Northbound on-ramp only
			N/A	West Seattle Bridge, S. Spokane Street	Southbound exit only
			N/A	1st Avenue S., Qwest Field, Safeco Field
			N/A	Columbia Street
			N/A	Seneca Street
			N/A	Western Avenue, Elliott Avenue
		'BEGIN Expressway'
			N/A	Denny Way
			N/A	Mercer Street
			N/A	Seattle Center
			N/A	Dexter Avenue S.
			N/A	N. 38th Street, Bridge Way
			N/A	Green Lake Way, N. 45th Street, Woodland Park Zoo
			N. 63rd Street, Green Lake
		'BEGIN Surface Arterial'
			N/A	N. 85th Street
			N/A	N. 105th Street, Northgate Way
			N/A	N. 130th Street
			N/A	N. 145th Street
	Shoreline		N/A	N. 155th Street, Westminster Way N.E.
			N/A	N. 175th Street
			N/A	N. 185th Street
Snohomish	Edmonds		N/A	N. 205th Street, 244th Street S.W.
			N/A	Edmonds Way
			N/A	238th Street S.W.
			N/A	220th Street S.W.
	Lynnwood		N/A	212th Street S.W.
			N/A	200th Street S.W. - Edmonds Community College
			N/A	196th Street S.W.
			N/A	168th Street S.W., 44th Avenue W.
			N/A	148th Street S.W., 36th Avenue W.
			N/A
			N/A	Lincoln Way
	Everett		N/A	Airport Way - Paine Field
			N/A	112th Street S.W.
			N/A	Evergreen Way, Everett Mall Way
			N/A	'NB'

Notes

★ Near the northern terminus of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, the southbound section of the viaduct is cut away to make room for a brick building that was there at the time of construction. This provides an interesting visual; although the structure of the building extends only a few inches into the viaduct, it is nonetheless unusual to see part of a building in the road, on a bridge, 50 ft in the air.

★ At no point is SR 99 more than 5 miles west of I-5.

★ At SR 99's northern terminus, there is no direct connection to southbound I-5. Traffic must continue ¼ mile north of the terminus before reaching the entrance ramp to Southbound I-5.

External links

★ Highways of Washington State