Washington State Route 548

Image:WA548NorthernJunction.jpg northbound approaching the northern terminus of SR 548 in Blaine.]]

SR 548 begins north of Ferndale at a diamond interchange with I-5, signed as exit 266.{{cite web |date=May 14, 2012 |title=SR 5 – Exit 266: Junction SR 548/Grandview Road |url=https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/tools/InterchangeViewer/pdf/SR005/005X266.pdf |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |accessdate=February 1, 2013}} The highway travels west on Grandview Road, crossing over a railroad carrying the BNSF Railway's Bellingham Subdivision,{{cite map |date=January 2016 |title=2015 Washington State Rail System by Owner |url=https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/1FA0FD58-C5AD-46A8-BE95-1D2FC904D66F/0/2015WashingtonRailSystem.pdf |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |accessdate=December 14, 2018}}{{cite map |date=January 10, 2013 |title=BNSF Railway Company Northwest Operating Division |url=https://2ba1292i0dhq3gjqwlvgvsd5-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/div_nw.pdf |publisher=BNSF Railway |accessdate=December 14, 2018}} and passes through a rural area while following Fingalson Creek. SR 548 passes north of Lake Terrell and part of the Whatcom Wildlife Area before crossing another set of railroad tracks and reaching the Cherry Point Refinery complex, the state's largest oil refinery.{{cite web |title=Whatcom Wildlife Area: Lake Terrell Unit |url=https://wdfw.wa.gov/lands/wildlife_areas/whatcom/Lake%20Terrell/ |publisher=Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife |accessdate=December 14, 2018}}{{cite news |last=Gallagher |first=Dave |date=September 14, 2017 |title=BP Cherry Point refinery to host open house |url=https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/local/article173162891.html |work=The Bellingham Herald |accessdate=December 14, 2018}} The highway turns north onto Blaine Road at a roundabout near the complex's main entrance,{{cite news |date=July 13, 2018 |title=Roundabout to be built on Grandview at Kickerville |url=https://www.lyndentribune.com/news/roundabout-to-be-built-on-grandview-at-kickerville/article_2bb7190c-86d7-11e8-991f-5b13a6d635f6.html |work=Lynden Tribune |accessdate=December 14, 2018}} located east of Birch Bay State Park.{{google maps |title=State Route 548 |url=https://www.google.com/maps/dir/48.8922547,-122.5955126/48.9977231,-122.7521456/@48.9446211,-122.7438715,12z/am=t/data=!3m1!4b1!4m9!4m8!1m5!3m4!1m2!1d-122.7265066!2d48.8929364!3s0x5485bf9439e3c039:0x7fc4ff1af169740d!1m0!3e0 |accessdate=December 14, 2018}}{{cite book |last1=Mueller |first1=Marge |last2=Mueller |first2=Ted |year=2004 |title=Washington State Parks: A Complete Recreation Guide |edition=3rd |pages=127–129 |publisher=Mountaineers Books |location=Seattle |isbn=0-89886-893-9 |oclc=55800990 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1wq1lfr271oC |via=Google Books |accessdate=December 14, 2018}}

SR 548 continues north through the beach community of Birch Bay, overlooking a section of Boundary Bay. The highway then crosses over California Creek near the Loomis Trail Golf Club and Dakota Creek at the southern city limit of Blaine. The highway crosses over the BNSF Bellingham Subdivision and turns northwest onto Peace Portal Drive, traveling parallel to I-5 and the railroad through Blaine.{{cite web |date=October 18, 2010 |title=SR 5 – Exit 274: Junction Peace Portal Drive |url=https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/tools/InterchangeViewer/pdf/SR005/005X274.pdf |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |accessdate=December 14, 2018}} The highway and the railroad move onto the shore of Drayton Harbor, part of Semiahmoo Bay, and travel north through downtown Blaine.{{cite map |date=June 3, 2016 |title=City of Blaine Comprehensive Plan 2016: Transportation Element – Functional Classification Central Blaine, 2013 |url=https://www.ci.blaine.wa.us/DocumentCenter/View/12467/Functional-Classification |publisher=City of Blaine |accessdate=December 14, 2018}} SR 548 reaches its terminus at a dogbone interchange with I-5, signed as exit 276, near the city's marina, approximately {{convert|1/2|mi|km|1}} from the Peace Arch crossing of the Canadian border. The interchange also includes ramps to D Street, which continues east to SR 543, and 2nd Street, which connects to a parking lot for Peace Arch State Park.{{cite web |date=May 14, 2012 |title=SR 5 – Exit 276: Junction SR 548/D St/Blaine City Center |url=https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/tools/InterchangeViewer/pdf/SR005/005X276.pdf |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |accessdate=February 1, 2013}}

SR 548 is maintained by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), which conducts an annual survey of average traffic volume on state highways that is measured in terms of annual average daily traffic. Traffic volumes on SR 548 range from a minimum of 2,100 vehicles near the Cherry Point Refinery to a maximum of 12,000 vehicles near its Ferndale terminus.{{cite report |year=2017 |title=2016 Annual Traffic Report |pages=212–213 |url=http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/travel/pdf/Annual_Traffic_Report_2016.pdf |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |accessdate=December 14, 2018}}

SR 548 between Birch Bay and Blaine follows the route of a wagon road built in the 1900s parallel to a Great Northern rail line.{{cite map |publisher=United States Geological Survey |title=Washington (Whatcom County): Blaine Quadrangle |date=May 1907 |url=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/washington/txu-pclmaps-topo-wa-blaine-19053.jpg |scale=1:250,000 |format=JPG |accessdate=February 1, 2013}} The wagon road was codified in 1913 as the northernmost segment of the Pacific Highway,{{cite book |author=Washington State Legislature |title=Session Laws of the State of Washington |edition=1913 |date=March 12, 1913 |accessdate=February 1, 2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W7w4AAAAIAAJ |publisher=Washington State Legislature |location=Olympia, Washington |chapter=Chapter 65: Classifying Public Highways |page=221 |quote=A highway starting at the international boundary line at Blaine, Washington; thence southerly by the most feasible route through the cities of Bellingham, Mount Vernon, Everett, Seattle, Renton, along the easterly side of the White River Valley through Kent, Auburn, Tacoma, Olympia, Tenino, Centralia, Chehalis, to the southern boundary line at the city of Vancouver, Washington, to be known as The Pacific Highway.}} which later became State Road 1 during a 1923 restructuring of the highway system.{{cite book |author=Washington State Legislature |title=Session Laws of the State of Washington |edition=1923 |date=March 19, 1923 |accessdate=February 1, 2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G784AAAAIAAJ |publisher=Washington State Legislature |location=Olympia, Washington |chapter=Chapter 185: Primary and Secondary State Highways |pages=627–628 |quote=SECTION 1. A primary state highway, to be known as State Road No. 1 or the Pacific Highway, is established as follows: Beginning at the international boundary line at Blaine in the County of Whatcom; thence by the most feasible route in a southerly direction to the interstate bridge over the Columbia River between Vancouver and Portland.}} The United States Numbered Highways were created in 1926 and US 99 was assigned to the Pacific Highway,{{cite map |author1= Bureau of Public Roads |author2= American Association of State Highway Officials |date= November 11, 1926 |title= United States System of Highways Adopted for Uniform Marking by the American Association of State Highway Officials |url= https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_System_of_Highways_Adopted_for_Uniform_Marking_by_the_American_Association_of_State_Highway_Officials.jpg |scale= 1:7,000,000 |location= Washington, DC |publisher= United States Geological Survey |oclc= 32889555 |access-date= November 7, 2013 |via= Wikimedia Commons |name-list-style= amp}} becoming concurrent with the entire highway,{{cite map |publisher=Rand McNally |title=Rand McNally Junior Road Map of Washington |year=1926 |url=http://broermapsonline.org/online/NorthAmerica/UnitedStates/Northwest/Washington/unitedstates1926ra_076.html |accessdate=February 1, 2013}} which was replaced by PSH 1 in 1937.{{cite book |author=Washington State Legislature |title=Session Laws of the State of Washington |edition=1937 |date=March 17, 1937 |accessdate=February 1, 2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dcQ4AAAAIAAJ |publisher=Washington State Legislature |location=Olympia, Washington |chapter=Chapter 190: Establishment of Primary State Highways |page=933 |quote=Beginning at the international boundary line in the vicinity of Blaine in Whatcom county, thence in a southerly direction by the most feasible route to the Washington-Oregon boundary line on the interstate bridge over the Columbia river.}} PSH 1 and US 99 were replaced during the 1964 highway renumbering by I-5 and Peace Portal Drive was removed from the highway system.{{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 |accessdate=February 1, 2013}}{{cite map |publisher=United States Geological Survey |title=Victoria, 1966 |year=1966 |url=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/250k/txu-pclmaps-topo-us-victoria-1966.jpg |scale=1:250,000 |format=JPG |accessdate=February 1, 2013}}

SR 548 was created in 1991 from the county- and city-maintained Peace Portal Drive, Blaine Road, and Grandview Road between Ferndale and Blaine.{{cite web |url=http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=47.17.807 |title=47.17.807: State route No. 548 |year=1991 |work=Revised Code of Washington |publisher=Washington State Legislature |accessdate=February 1, 2013}}{{cite web |date=February 1997 |title=SR-548 Route Development Plan |page=2-1 |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |url=https://cdm16977.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16977coll2/id/42719/rec/13 |via=WSDOT Library Digital Collections |accessdate=October 7, 2021}} In 2010, WSDOT improved the I-5 interchange in Blaine at a cost of $13.2 million by converting it to a dogbone interchange using two new roundabouts.{{cite web |title=I-5 - Blaine Exit Interchange Improvements - Complete September 2010 |date=September 2010 |url=http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/I5/BlaineInterchange/ |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |accessdate=February 1, 2013}} A roundabout was constructed at the Cherry Point Refinery in 2018.

{{WAinttop|county=Whatcom|length_ref=}}

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|location=Ferndale

|mile=0.00

|road={{jct|state=WA|I|5|city1=Seattle|location2=Vancouver B.C.}}

|notes=Southern terminus, interchange}}

{{WAint

|location=Blaine

|lspan=2

|mile=11.80

|road={{jct|state=WA|I|5|to1=to|dir1=south}} via Peace Portal Drive

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{{WAint

|mile=13.85

|road={{jct|state=WA|I|5|city1=Seattle|location2=Border Crossing}}

|notes=Northern terminus, interchange}}

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• [https://www.angelfire.com/wa2/hwysofwastate/sr548.html Highways of Washington State]

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

548

Category:Transportation in Whatcom County, Washington