wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > HB 2172 > Original Bill
Except as provided under subsection (2) of this section, the state department of transportation may modify the alignment of all public highways in this state that have been a part of the route of a state highway and have been or may hereafter be no longer necessary as such, if situated outside of the limits of incorporated cities or towns, shall, upon certification thereof by the state department of transportation to the legislative authority of the county in which any portion of the highway is located, become a county road of the county, and if situated within the corporate limits of any city or town shall upon certification thereof by the state department of transportation to the mayor of the city or town in which any portion of the highway is located become a street of the city or town. Upon the certification the secretary of transportation shall execute a deed, which shall be duly acknowledged, conveying the abandoned highway or portion thereof to the county or city as the case may be.
Any portion of a state highway determined to no longer be necessary under subsection (1) of this section, which exceeds two miles in length or includes a bridge, shall be considered a route transfer and subject to the provisions of RCW 47.17.001 and 47.01.425.
The legislature recognizes the need for an independent multijurisdictional body to review requests for jurisdictional transfersas follows:
The commission shall receive petitions from cities, counties, or the state requesting jurisdictional transfers that include any addition or deletion from the state highway system, and abandonments under RCW 36.75.090(2) that exceed two miles in length.
The commission must utilize the criteria established in RCW 47.17.001 in evaluating and analyzing petitions and to adopt rules for implementation of this process, including a requirement for a prerequest conference with requesting parties, to ensure potential transfer requests are eligible under the law.
The commission shall forward to the senate and house transportation committees by November 15th each year a report that includes the results of the evaluation and analysis conducted, identifies potential costs, risks, and impacts to continuity and connectivity of the state highway system, and provides recommendations for jurisdictional transfers or abandonments pursuant to RCW 36.75.090(2).
In considering whether to make additions, deletions, or other changes to the state highway system, the legislature shall be guided by the following criteria :
All state routes should exhibit strong connectivity, continuity, and functional characteristics when compared to routes already part of the state highway system.
A rural highway route should be designated as a state highway if it meets any of the following criteria:
Is designated as part of the national system of interstate and defense highways (popularly called the interstate system); or
Is designated as part of the system of numbered United States routes; or
Contains an international border crossing that is open 12 or more hours each day.
A rural highway route may be designated as a state highway if it is part of an integrated system of roads and:
Carries in excess of 300,000 tons annually and provides primary access to a rural port or intermodal freight terminal;
Provides a major cross-connection between existing state highways; or
Connects to United States census designated places
.
An urban highway route that meets any of the following criteria should be designated as part of the state highway system:
Is designated as part of the interstate system;
Is designated as part of the system of numbered United States routes;
Is an urban extension of a rural state highway into or through an urban area and is necessary to form an integrated system of state highways;
Is an urban highway route between two state highways , in a city or United States census designated place, or is a spur in a city or United States census designated place.
The following guidelines are intended to be used as a basis for interpreting and applying the criteria to specific routes:
For any route wholly within one or more contiguous jurisdictions which would be proposed for transfer to the state highway system under these criteria, if local officials prefer, responsibility will remain at the local level.
State highway routes maintain continuity of the system by being composed of routes that join other state routes at both ends or to arterial routes in the states of Oregon and Idaho and the Province of British Columbia.
Public facilities may be considered to be served if they are within approximately two miles of a state highway.
Exceptions may be made to include:
Rural spurs as state highways if they meet the criteria relative to serving population centers of 1,000 or greater population or activity centers with population equivalencies or an aggregated population of 1,000 or greater;
Urban spurs as state highways that provide needed access to Washington state ferry terminals, state parks, major seaports, and trunk airports; and
Urban connecting links as state highways that function as a needed bypass and benefit truck routing, capacity alternative, business congestion, and geometric deficiencies.
In urban and urbanized areas:
Unless they are significant regional traffic generators, public facilities such as state hospitals, state correction centers, state universities, ferry terminals, and military bases do not constitute a criteria for establishment of a state highway; and
There may be no more than one parallel nonaccess controlled facility in the same corridor as a freeway or limited access facility as designated by the metropolitan planning organization.
When there is a choice of two or more routes between population centers, the state route designation shall normally be based on the following considerations:
The ability to handle higher traffic volumes;
The higher ability to accommodate further development or expansion along the existing alignment;
The most direct route and the lowest travel time;
The route that serves traffic with the most interstate, statewide, and interregional significance;
The route that provides the optimal spacing between other state routes; and
If a highway project results in the decommissioning of a portion of an existing state highway, such as due to a change in the highway's alignment, the legislature must make a final determination regarding the status of the existing state highway segment, through duly enacted legislation including, but not limited to:
Authorizing the disposition of the segment via RCW 36.75.090;
Approving the transfer of the segment to the local jurisdiction;
Authorizing the demolition of the segment; or
Retaining the segment as part of the state highway system.
Subject to the requirements of RCW 47.01.425, the department of transportation shall determine what streets, together with bridges thereon and wharves necessary for use for ferriage of motor vehicle traffic in connection with such streets, if any, in any incorporated cities and towns shall form a part of the route of state highways and between the first and 15th days of July of any year the department shall identify by brief description, the streets, together with the bridges thereon and wharves, if any, in such city or town that are designated as forming a part of the route of any state highway; and all such streets, including curbs and gutters and street intersections and such bridges and wharves, shall thereafter be a part of the state highway system and as such shall be constructed and maintained by the department from any state funds available therefor: PROVIDED, That the responsibility for the construction and maintenance of any such street together with its appurtenances may be returned to a city or a town upon certification by the department to the clerk of any city or town that such street, or portion thereof, is no longer required as a part of the state highway system: PROVIDED FURTHER, That any such certification that a street, or portion thereof, is no longer required as a part of the state highway system shall be made between the first and 15th of July following the determination by the department that such street or portion thereof is no longer required as a part of the state highway system, but this shall not prevent the department and any city or town from entering into an agreement that a city or town will accept responsibility for such a street or portion thereof at some time other than between the first and 15th of July of any year.
Subject to the requirements of RCW 47.01.425, whenever the general route of any state highway shall be designated and laid out as running to or by way of certain designated points, without specifying the particular route to be followed to or by way of such points, the department shall determine the particular route to be followed by said state highway to or by way of said designated points, and shall be at liberty to select and adopt as a part of such state highway, the whole or any part of any existing public highway previously designated as a county road, primary road, or secondary road or now or hereafter classified as a county road. The department need not select and adopt the entire routes for such state highways at one time, but may select and adopt parts of such routes from time to time as it deems advisable. Where a state highway is designated as passing by way of a certain point, this shall not require the department to cause such state highway to pass through or touch such point but such designation is directional only and may be complied with by location in the general vicinity. The department is empowered to construct as a part of any state highway as designated and in addition to any portion meeting the limits of any incorporated city or town a bypass section either through or around any such incorporated city or town.
This act takes effect July 1, 2026.