State Route 517

One of my site visitors pointed out that I had a link to a page for SR 517 but that there is no SR 517 and that the link did not actually connect to a page. Well, as Paul Harvey would say, here's the rest of the story.

It is true that neither has there been nor is there now a route numbered SR 517 in Washington State. Such a designation had been assigned to a proposed addition to the state highway system, however. In the mid-1980s the state legislature began a study of which roads should or should not be a part of the state highway system. The legislature created a temporary Route Jurisdiction Committee (RJC) to explore the issue. The RJC met for about seven years before coming up with a bill that was acceptable to the state, counties, and cities. This bill, still called by some the RJC bill, was passed by the legislature and signed by the governor in 1991. The bill became effective April 1, 1992.

During the RJC negotiations, the designation SR 517 was given to a proposed route that would have connected the Fauntleroy ferry terminal with I-5 in Seattle. SR 517 would have included Fauntleroy Way SW and the West Seattle Freeway, aka West Seattle Bridge. I think that it was opposition from some West Seattle residents that resulted in the SR 517 proposal to be dropped from the final RJC bill. Another proposed route that was ultimately dropped from the RJC legislation was SR 511, consisting primarily of the DuPont Steilacoom Rd and Steilacoom Blvd. This route would have started at I-5 Exit 119 in DuPont and headed north to Steilacoom, then east to Lakewood, ending at I-5 Exit 127. A spur would have connected the mainline of SR 511 with the Steilacoom-Anderson Island ferry terminal in Steilacoom.

Not only were some additions to the state highway system left out of the final RJC bill, but some deletions were left out as well. For example, the state wanted to drop SR 506 and SR 508 from the state highway system. However, these route remain. The RJC bill as passed did add about 300 miles of roads and streets to the state highway system and turned about 300 miles of state highways over to the counties and cities. The state retained ownership of some bridges that were part of the highways that were dropped.

If SR 517 had been added to the state highway system, it probably should have been numbered SR 160, the number assigned to the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth ferry route and the highway heading west from Southworth to SR 16 near Port Orchard. Similarly, SR 519, an RJC addition that was approved, should be numbered SR 304 and/or SR 305, the numbers assigned to the Seattle-Bremerton and Seattle-Bainbridge Island ferry routes and their connecting highways heading west to SR 3.

When it comes to SR 517, now you know the rest of the story.