Former Highway 10 route to receive new signage

 

Last updated 4/14/2016 at Noon

HISTORIC ROUTE. These brown signs signifing the US 10 Highway are currently seen on First Avenue in RItzville. WIthin the next few months residents will see 14 new signs. -Journal photo by Rachel Plager

Former United States Highway 10 is an east-west highway built in 1926. It was one of the original long-haul highways and originated in Detroit, Michigan and extended to Seattle.

In Adams County, Highway 10 enters the county near Sprague Lake at the Lincoln County line and continues through Ritzville along First Avenue before it exits at the Grant County line. It became obsolete with the building of Interstate 90 in 1968.

During the March 28 meeting of the Adams County Commissioners 14 signs were approved to be purchased and erected marking the path of US 10 through Adams County.

There are a few of these signs already placed along First Avenue in Ritzville, which were purchased by the City. The new signs will be identical to these ones. They will be brown in color and will reference the historical value of the old state highway.

The cost of this new signage will be $758 and the installation is estimated to cost $2,240 for a total cost of $2,998 for the County.

The money for these signs will come from 110 funds, which are accumulated via hotel, motel and RV taxes. The County does not have these funds in excess as most hotels and motels are within City limits but there are several RV parks where taxes go to the County.

These signs will need to be replaced in 10 years due to wear but the posts will remain so the cost will be small.

The Commissioners see the addition of these signs as a way to bring more visitors through the downtowns of the small communities located within Adams County.

When the older highways were replaced by modern interstates, the flow of traffic was diverted and cars no longer had to drive directly through a town to get to their destination.

This drastically decreased the amount of money and time visitors spent in small towns. The movement which has begun to revitalize the historic highway 10 has hopes of bringing visitors back to small towns patrons may simply just drive past on the interstate.

Highway 10 was unique in that it was the only cross-country highway in which a ferry ride was required to continue on the road.

Drivers would have to take the ferry to cross Lake Michigan otherwise they would need to drive down to Chicago and around the lake before they could reconnect with the road

The Ritzville Classic Cars Club is a group within the community that have shown an interest in this movement. There have also been citizens who have seen what the west side of Washington has done to preserve their portion of Highway 10 and have suggested similar actions be taken in this area.

There is a portion of the road from Ellensburg to Cle Elum, which is still in use today.

While the idea has been on the commissioners minds for quite sometime it is now taking fruition with the recent approval and they hope to have the signs erected by the end of Summer.

 

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