Interstate 82 - History

History

As part of Washington's first connected state highway system, the Washington State Legislature designated the Inland Empire Highway between Ellensburg and Laurier in 1913. The State Highway Board selected a route that would connect the main cities of Eastern Washington and the Inland Empire, which were Ellensburg, Yakima, the Tri Cities, Colfax, and Spokane. In 1923, by which time the entire road had been improved, the highway became State Road 3 (Primary State Highway 3 and Primary State Highway 3 WA after 1937), but retained its name. By that time, most of the route of Interstate 82 became parts of US 410, US 97, and US 395, all three were established in 1926.

In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, which started the construction of Interstate Highways. Even though I-82 was designated in 1956, construction did not start until the early 1980s, and the last section of Interstate 82 within Washington opened in 1987. Legally, the Washington section of I-82 is defined at Washington Revised Code § 47.17.135. Several projects are currently ongoing and have been completed in the recent years on I-82.

I-82 was meant to go from Tacoma, across Naches Pass, and then southeast into Yakima and the Tri-Cities. The proposal was quickly denied and later resurfaced as the SR 168 Proposal.

The original plans for the included two options. One was the current route (which was opposed by the Tri-Cities), and another had I-82 go from Prosser into Richland and Pasco, and then southeast to Wallula and then end at I-80N (present-day I-84) in Pendleton. The first option was chosen, but the Tri-Cities needed access, so the Federal Highway Administration created Interstate 182, which would serve as a connector from I-82 to the Tri-Cities.

When I-80N was renumbered I-84 in 1980, I-82's designation became a violation of the Interstate system's numbering rules, as it was now located north of I-84. The reason for the renumbering was a change in guidelines published by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials that advised renumbering suffixed routes. In 1999, a plan surfaced to extend I-82 further south in Oregon. Three major routes were proposed including the Madras Route, from Umatilla through Heppner, Condon, Fossil, and Antelope to Madras, where I-82 would replace US 97 south through Bend to the California border, the Prineville route, from Umatilla through Heppner, Hardman, Spray, Prineville, and Powell Butte to US 97 near Bend, then continue south to the border, and the US 395 route, from Umatilla through John Day, Burns, and Lakeview, presumably to the California border and beyond.