Washington State Route 501

File:WA-501 at I-5, Vancouver.jpg near Downtown Vancouver]]

The {{convert|11.00|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}} southern section of SR 501 and the Erwin O. Rieger Memorial Highway begins as the four-lane Mill Plain Boulevard at a diamond interchange with I-5 in Downtown Vancouver.{{cite web |date=May 25, 2011 |title=SR 5 - Exit 1C: Junction SR 501/Mill Plain Blvd |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |url=http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/tools/InterchangeViewer/pdf/SR005/005X001C.pdf |access-date=February 10, 2013}} The highway travels west through Downtown Vancouver and splits into a one-way pair on Mill Plain Boulevard and 15th Street before rejoining as Mill Plain Boulevard.{{cite web |date=October 3, 2004 |title=SR 501: Junction SR 501 CO VANCVR |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |url=http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/tools/InterchangeViewer/pdf/SR501/501X001.pdf |access-date=February 10, 2013}} SR 501 crosses a BNSF rail yard and enters the Port of Vancouver, becoming the Lower River Road and narrowing to a two-lane highway on the south side of Vancouver Lake.{{cite map |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |title=2011 Washington State Rail System |date=January 2012 |url=http://wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/FDBE2AB4-E504-4AC5-9E30-6A2CC4FAAD34/0/2011Ownership.pdf |format=PDF |access-date=February 10, 2013}} The highway follows the Columbia and Lake rivers north past the Shillapoo Wildlife Recreation Area, ending south of Post Office Lake in the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.{{google maps |title=State Route 501 |url=https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=E+Mill+Plain+Blvd&daddr=WA-501+N%2FNW+Lower+River+Rd&hl=en&ll=45.686485,-122.71281&spn=0.128314,0.338173&sll=45.736919,-122.752476&sspn=0.03205,0.084543&geocode=FTJHuAIdd02w-A%3BFX72uQIdcuOu-A&mra=dme&mrsp=1&sz=14&t=m&z=12 |accessdate=February 10, 2013}}

Every year, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) conducts a series of surveys on its highways in the state to measure traffic volume. This is expressed in terms of annual average daily traffic (AADT), which is a measure of traffic volume for any average day of the year. In 2011, WSDOT calculated that the busiest section of SR 501 overall was west of I-5 at C Street, serving 13,000 vehicles, while the least busiest section of SR 501 overall was south of Shillapoo Wildlife Recreation Area, serving 650 vehicles.{{cite web |author=Staff |year=2011 |title=2011 Annual Traffic Report |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |url=http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/travel/pdf/Annual_Traffic_Report_2011.pdf |pages=184–185 |access-date=February 10, 2013}} Between I-5 and the Port of Vancouver, SR 501 is designated as part of WSDOT's Highway of Statewide Significance,{{cite web |title=Transportation Commission List of Highways of Statewide Significance |url=https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2006/03/16/HSSlist2009mod2.pdf |publisher=Washington State Transportation Commission |date=July 26, 2009 |access-date=February 10, 2013}} which include interstate highways and other principal arterials that are needed to connect major communities in the state of Washington.{{cite web |last=Lorenzo |first=Judy |title=Highways of Statewide Significance |url=http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/planning/HSS/Default.htm |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |access-date=February 10, 2013}}

File:Downtown Ridgefield.jpg]]

The {{convert|2.97|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}} northern section of SR 501 within Ridgefield begins as Pioneer Street at an intersection with Main Avenue at the Ridgefield City Hall. The highway travels east through Downtown Ridgefield, passing View Ridge Middle School, before crossing over Gee Creek. SR 501 continues east through two roundabouts, at 45th Avenue and 56th Place, before ending at a diamond interchange with I-5.{{cite web |date=May 24, 2011 |title=SR 5 - Exit 14: Junction SR 501/Pioneer Street |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |url=http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/tools/InterchangeViewer/pdf/SR005/005X014.pdf |access-date=February 10, 2013}}{{google maps |title=State Route 501 |url=https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Pioneer+St&daddr=NW+269th+St%2FPioneer+St&hl=en&ll=45.8157,-122.715525&spn=0.032004,0.084543&sll=45.815846,-122.684954&sspn=0.002,0.005284&geocode=FVcWuwId_Aqv-A%3BFTgYuwId8vmv-A&mra=me&mrsp=1,0&sz=18&t=m&z=14 |link=no |accessdate=February 10, 2013}}

Every year, WSDOT conducts a series of surveys on its highways in the state to measure traffic volume. This is expressed in terms of AADT, which is a measure of traffic volume for any average day of the year. In 2011, WSDOT calculated that the busiest section of the northern section was the I-5 interchange, serving 11,000 vehicles, while the least busiest section was the intersection with Main Street in Downtown Ridgefield, serving 3,200 vehicles.

As of July 6, 2024, the Northern Section between the western Ridgefield City Limits and the eastern terminus at Interstate 5 was transferred to the City of Ridgefield through the Route Jurisdiction Transfer process, enacted by House Bill 2318, unanimously approved by the 68th Legislature 2024 Regular Session, and signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee on March 13, 2024. (https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2023-24/Pdf/Bills/Session%20Laws/House/2318.SL.pdf?q=20241215075257) (https://ridgefieldwa.portal.civicclerk.com/event/645/files/attachment/798).

{{clear}}

SSH 1T was created in 1937 during the formation of the primary and secondary state highways,{{cite book |author=Washington State Legislature |title=Session Laws of the State of Washington |edition=1937 |date=March 18, 1937 |access-date=February 10, 2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dcQ4AAAAIAAJ |publisher=Washington State Legislature |location=Olympia, Washington |chapter=Chapter 207: Classification of Public Highways |page=997 |quote=(s) Secondary State Highway No. 1T; beginning at Vancouver on Primary State Highway No. 1, thence in a northerly direction by the most feasible route by way of Sara to Ridgefield, thence in an easterly direction by the most feasible route to a junction with Primary State Highway No. 1 in the vicinity south of LaCenter.}} traveling on a {{convert|18.86|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}} route north from Primary State Highway 1 (PSH 1) and U.S. Route 99 (US 99) in Vancouver through Felida and Ridgefield to PSH 1 and US 99 at Pioneer.{{cite web |author=Staff |year=1960 |title=Annual Traffic Report, 1960 |publisher=Washington State Highway Commission, Department of Highways |url=http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/travel/pdf/1960_ATR.pdf |page=161 |access-date=February 10, 2013}}{{cite map |publisher=United States Geological Survey |title=Vancouver, 1949 |year=1949 |url=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/250k/txu-pclmaps-topo-us-vancouver-1949.jpg |scale=1:250,000 |format=JPG |access-date=February 10, 2013}} The highway was extended into Vancouver in the 1950s{{cite news |date=March 29, 1954 |title=To Extend Highway |page=3 |work=The Daily Chronicle |location=Centralia |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24415055/ssh-1t-extension-in-vancouver/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=September 22, 2021}} and re-aligned in 1963 to serve the Port of Vancouver, traveling along the Columbia River to Ridgefield west of Vancouver Lake onto a roadway that was to be constructed.{{cite book |author=Washington State Legislature |title=Session Laws of the State of Washington |edition=1963 |year=1963 |publisher=Washington State Legislature |location=Olympia, Washington |chapter=Extended Session 3}} The state highway commission realigned the highway onto a pair of one-way streets within Vancouver in late 1968.{{cite news |last=Goetz |first=Lorenz |date=December 1968 |title=Commission Report |page=12 |work=Washington Highway News |publisher=Washington State Department of Highways |oclc=29654162 |url=https://cdm16977.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16977coll1/id/5469/rec/1 |via=WSDOT Library Digital Collections |accessdate=September 22, 2021}} The first section of the Columbia River segment was completed in 1969, but the remainder never left the design phase.{{cite news |date=September 2, 2009 |title=What's up with that? Highway will continue its journey to nowhere |work=The Columbian |url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-21743826.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820074707/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-21743826.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 20, 2018 |access-date=August 19, 2018}} SSH 1T became SR 501 during the 1964 highway renumbering and codified as such in 1970,{{cite web |last=Prahl |first=C. G. |title=Identification of State Highways |url=https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2005/04/26/Identification-of-state-highways.pdf |publisher=Washington State Highway Commission, Department of Highways |date=December 1, 1965 |access-date=February 7, 2013}}{{cite map |publisher=United States Geological Survey |title=Vancouver, 1967 |year=1967 |url=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/250k/txu-pclmaps-topo-us-vancouver-1967.jpg |scale=1:250,000 |format=JPG |access-date=February 7, 2013}} being designated as the Erwin O. Rieger Memorial Highway in 1991.{{cite book |author=Washington State Legislature |title=Session Laws of the State of Washington |edition=1991 |date=May 9, 1991 |chapter-url=http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?year=1991&bill=1946 |access-date=February 10, 2013 |publisher=Washington State Legislature |location=Olympia, Washington |chapter=Chapter 78: House Bill 1946 - Erwin O. Rieger Memorial Highway}} In the late 1990s, Mill Plain Boulevard was extended west from downtown Vancouver to the industrial area west of the railyard to serve the Port of Vancouver. The $35 million project was dedicated on September 30, 2000, and incorporated into SR 501.{{cite news |last=Ryll |first=Thomas |date=September 30, 2000 |title=Engine of change: Mill Plain extension bridge opens |work=The Columbian |url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23454402.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820105554/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-23454402.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 20, 2018 |access-date=August 19, 2018}}

The section of the highway between the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge and the city of Ridgefield has never been constructed and remains as a physical gap in the state highway system.{{cite map |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |title=Washington State Highways, 2011–2012 |year=2011 |url=http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/14A6187A-B266-4340-A351-D668F89AC231/0/TouristMapFront_withHillshade.pdf |format=PDF |scale=1:842,000 |access-date=February 10, 2013}} The interchange between I-5 and SR 501 east of Ridgefield was rebuilt by WSDOT between 2010 and 2012, adding roundabouts at intersections west and east of the interchange as well.{{cite web |title=I-5 - SR 501 Ridgefield Interchange - Complete October 2012 |url=http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/i5/sr501interchange/ |date=October 2012 |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |access-date=February 10, 2013}} On July 14, 2015, WSDOT permanently closed the northern {{convert|1+1/3|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}} of SR 501's southern section due to the Columbia River reclaiming the highway.{{cite news |last=Hewitt |first=Scott |date=July 12, 2015 |title=Far segment of Lower River Road closes to cars Tuesday |url=http://www.columbian.com/news/2015/jul/12/far-segment-lower-river-road-closes-cars-tuesday |work=The Columbian |access-date=July 18, 2017}} That part of the highway was relinquished to Clark County in 2016.{{cite news |last=Hewitt |first=Scott |date=July 12, 2017 |title=Dead end really the end for Lower River Road |url=http://www.columbian.com/news/2017/jul/12/dead-end-really-the-end-for-lower-river-road |work=The Columbian |access-date=July 18, 2017}} Eventually, that section was vacated to surrounding property owners.

{{clear}}

{{WAinttop|county=Clark|length_ref=}}

{{WAint

|location=Vancouver

|mile=0.00

|mile2=0.05

|road={{jct|state=WA|I|5|location1=Portland|city2=Seattle}}

|notes=I-5 exit 1C; interchange.}}

{{WAint

|location=none

|mile=11.00

|road=Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

|notes=}}

{{jctgap}}

{{WAint

|location=Ridgefield

|lspan=2

|mile=11.00

|road=Main Avenue

|notes=}}

{{WAint

|mile=13.88

|mile2=13.97

|road={{jct|state=WA|I|5|location1=Portland|city2=Seattle}}

|notes=I-5 exit 14; interchange.}}

{{jctbtm}}

{{reflist}}

{{AttachedKML|display=title,inline}}

• [https://www.angelfire.com/wa2/hwysofwastate/sr501.html Highways of Washington State]

{{State highways in Washington related to I-5}}

501

Category:Transportation in Clark County, Washington