Existed: 1964 – present East end: US 101 in Kamilche Constructed 1964 East end US 101 in Kamilche | West end: SR 8 in McCleary Length 19.25 km West end SR 8 in McCleary | |
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Counties Grays Harbor County, Washington, Mason County, Washington | ||
State Route 108 (SR 108, also known as the Old Olympic Highway) is a state highway in Grays Harbor and Mason counties, of the U.S. state of Washington. It extends 20.67 miles (33.27 km) from SR 8 in the city of McCleary, east to an interchange with U.S. Route 101 (US 101) in Kamilche. The route serves as a bypass and connects McCleary with Shelton, and Port Angeles.
Contents
Map of WA-108, Washington, USA
The highway was Secondary State Highway 9D (SSH 9D) from 1937 until 1964, which ran from McCleary to Kamilche. SR 108 was also closed in late October 2008 because of a project to remove a railroad crossing owned by the Puget Sound and Pacific Railroad.
Route description
SR 108 runs 11.96 miles (19.25 km) east from SR 8 in McCleary to an interchange with US 101 in Kamilche. The route serves as a bypass and connects McCleary with Shelton, and Port Angeles. WSDOT has found that more than 11,000 motorists utilize the road daily before the interchange with US 101 based on average annual daily traffic (AADT) data.
SR 108 starts at an intersection with SR 8 west of Downtown McCleary. From the intersection, the road briefly goes north before turning east onto Simpson Avenue into Downtown McCleary. Simpson Avenue goes into McCleary and comes to a 3-way intersection with Main Street at Beerbower Park. SR 108 then turns onto Main Street and becomes Summit Road, passing Lake Clara before leaving Downtown McCleary. After passing Hillgrove, the highway enters McCleary Junction and turns northeast to parallel the Puget Sound and Pacific Railroad.
At the intersection with Elma Hicklin Road, the road stops paralleling the railroad and continues northeast into Mason County. In Stimson, the railroad starts to parallel the highway, but after that, the railroad curves back, and stops paralleling SR 108. North of Forbes, the highway crosses the railroad and then enters Kamilche, where the road ends at an interchange with US 101.
History
When the Primary and Secondary Highways were formed in 1937, the current SR 108 became Secondary State Highway 9D (SSH 9D). SSH 9D became SR 108 in 1964 during the 1964 highway renumbering, in which the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) replaced the previous system of Primary and Secondary Highways with a new system called State Routes, which is still in use today.
In October 2008, a project to remove an old railroad crossing closed SR 108 for 24 hours near the Little Creek Casino. The railroad crossing was owned by the Puget Sound and Pacific Railroad, currently a division of RailAmerica. The railroad crosses SR 108 on its way east from Elma to Shelton. The closure caused motorists to use SR 8 and US 101, a 22.54 miles (36.27 km) long detour. The railroad was formerly part of the BNSF Railway.