Washington State Route 230

The Revised Code of Washington describes SR 230 as an east–west route that begins at a junction with I-90 (concurrent with US 395) near Ritzville. The highway would travel east "by the most feasible route" to SR 23 near Ewan, a rural community in Whitman County.{{cite web |year=1970 |title=RCW 47.17.440: State route No. 230. |url=http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=47.17.440 |publisher=Washington State Legislature |access-date=December 11, 2010}} A 1956 map showed an alignment that passed Finnell and Crane lakes before dipping south and turning northeast.{{cite map |author=H. M. Gousha Company |author-link=Gousha |year=1956 |title=Highway Map of Washington |scale=1 inch ≈ 18 miles |publisher=Shell Oil Company |url=https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~212157~5500256 |via=David Rumsey Historical Map Collection |accessdate=February 18, 2023}} The Washington State Highway Commission estimated the total length of the corridor to be {{convert|27.82|mi|km}} in a 1960 report.{{cite report |date=July 1, 1960 |title=A Report on Needs of the State Highway System |page=55 |publisher=Washington State Highway Commission |url=https://cdm16977.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16977coll10/id/11490/rec/30 |via=WSDOT Library Digital Collections |accessdate=February 11, 2023}}

The two areas are generally connected by local roads, including Urquhart and Harder roads in Adams County, but they are not rated for all-weather use.{{cite map |year=2021 |title=All-Weather Roads |url=https://files4.1.revize.com/adamscounty/DeptPages/PublicWorks/maps/2021_All-Weather.pdf |publisher=Adams County Department of Public Works |accessdate=February 11, 2023}}{{cite map |last=McGillic |first=Ruth M. |date=May 1, 2020 |title=2020 Road Map of Whitman County, Washington |url=https://www.whitmancounty.org/DocumentCenter/View/2205/2020-Whitman-County-Map-Black--White-PDF |publisher=Whitman County Public Works |accessdate=February 11, 2023}} Ritzville and Ewan are connected by I-90 and SR 23, which intersect in Sprague.{{cite WSDOT map |year=2014 |accessdate=February 11, 2023}}

The Ritzville–Ewan highway was first proposed in a 1943 bill by state senator Elmer C. Huntley of St. John.{{cite news |date=February 1, 1943 |title=State Road Plan Waits For Funds |page=6 |work=Spokane Daily Chronicle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/118472574/state-road-plan-waits-for-funds/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=February 11, 2023}} It was designated as a branch of Primary State Highway 18 (PSH 18) between Ritzville and Steptoe, connecting US 395 to US 195.{{cite Washington session law |year=1943 |date=March 20, 1943 |chapter=239 |title=Public Highways |page=716 |accessdate=February 11, 2023}}{{cite web |date=May 31, 1960 |title=A History of the Washington State Highway Commission, Department of Highways, 1889–1959 |pages=21–22 |publisher=Washington State Highway Commission |url=https://cdm16977.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16977coll11/id/1935/rec/4 |via=WSDOT Library Digital Collections |accessdate=February 11, 2023}} The highway would use several existing county roads from Ewan to Steptoe that ranged from oiled to graded gravel. In 1945, Huntley lobbied for an earmark of over $1.5 million (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|1500000|1945|r=-5}}}} in {{inflation-year|US-GDP}}){{inflation-fn|US-GDP}} to be set aside for the project to be used after World War II. The new section would cut the driving distance from Ritzville to Colfax by {{convert|20|mi|km}} and was anticipated to become "one of the principal, if not the principal" east–west highways in the region.{{cite news |last=Woodward |first=Walt |date=March 8, 1945 |title=Under the Capital Dome: Colfax Cut-Off Sought in Bill Before Solons |page=8 |work=The Ritzville Journal-Times |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fk1lAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xJMNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2366,518865 |via=Google News Archive |access-date=February 16, 2011}}{{cite web |date=1945 |title=Description of Items in the Suggested Post War Program of the Highway Advisory Commission |page=12 |publisher=Washington State Department of Highways |url=https://cdm16977.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16977coll11/id/1581/rec/6 |via=WSDOT Library Digital Collections |accessdate=February 11, 2023}}

A 1960 report from the Washington State Highway Commission estimated that it would cost $3.26 million (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|3260000|1960|r=-5}}}} in {{inflation-year|US-GDP}}){{inflation-fn|US-GDP}} to construct the highway within a 15-year timeframe. During the 1964 state highway renumbering, the PSH 18 branch was replaced by two new state routes: SR 23 between Steptoe and Ewan, which continued north on Secondary State Highway 11C (SSH 11C) through Sprague; and SR 230 for the unbuilt section between Ritzville and Ewan.{{cite web |date=December 1, 1965 |title=Identification of State Highways |pages=14, 26 |publisher=Washington State Highway Commission |url=https://cdm16977.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16977coll11/id/1595 |via=WSDOT Library Digital Collections |accessdate=February 11, 2023}}{{cite web |year=1979 |title=Washington State Highway System Legislative Statutes |page=11 |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |url=https://cdm16977.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16977coll10/id/3103/rec/1 |via=WSDOT Library Digital Collections |accessdate=February 11, 2023}} An evaluation of unbuilt highway projects by the state government published in 1972 determined that constructing SR 230 would have a low cost–benefit ratio and serve little traffic.{{cite report |author=Office of Management Services |date=May 1, 1972 |title=Development of Project Priorities in the State of Washington |page=E{{hyphen}}4 |publisher=Washington State Highway Commission, Washington State Department of Highways |url=https://cdm16977.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16977coll11/id/1879/rec/31 |via=WSDOT Library Digital Collections |accessdate=February 11, 2023}} The legal definition of SR 23, the highway's proposed eastern terminus, was amended during the 1987 legislative session to remove a reference to a junction with SR 230.{{cite book |date=April 25, 1987 |title=Session Laws of the State of Washington, 1987 |chapter=Chapter 199: State Highway Route Designations Revised |page=686 |chapter-url=https://leg.wa.gov/CodeReviser/documents/sessionlaw/1987c199.pdf |publisher=Washington State Legislature |access-date=November 21, 2021}}

{{WAinttop|location_ref=}}

{{WAint

|county=Adams

|location=Ritzville

|type=unbuilt

|mile=

|road={{jct|state=WA|I|90|US|395|city1=Seattle|city2=Spokane}}

|notes=Western terminus

}}

{{WAint

|county=Whitman

|location=Ewan

|type=unbuilt

|mile=

|road={{jct|state=WA|WA|23|city1=Colfax|city2=Sprague}}

|notes=Eastern terminus

}}

{{Jctbtm|keys=unbuilt}}

{{Portal|U.S. roads|United States}}

• Washington State Route 168 - another legislated but unconstructed state highway

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.angelfire.com/wa2/hwysofwastate/sr230.html Highways of Washington State]

{{State highways in Washington related to SR 23}}

230

Category:Proposed state highways in the United States

Category:Transportation in Adams County, Washington

Category:Transportation in Whitman County, Washington