In Our View June 8: Names, not Numbers

It's great to leave Interstate 5 and get on the road to Battle Ground, and know it's going to Battle Ground because the road has a name, not just a number.

That's the result of action by the Washington State Transportation Commission, which named state Highway 502 the "Battle Ground Highway" last week. At the same time, a segment of highway 503 was named the "Lewisville Highway."

Battle Ground Highway is the east-west road between Battle Ground and the freeway. Highway 503, the Lewisville Highway, runs from the Padden Parkway in Orchards to Amboy.

Greater emphasis will be placed on the east-west Battle Ground Highway 502 when it expands to four lanes, scheduled for completion by 2012. It connects with 503 — the Lewisville Highway — at a busy intersection in Battle Ground.

Credit the Battle Ground City Council with the suggestion to add a name to a number, to avoid confusion for motorists who venture over north county highways. Credit state Rep. Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, and other state House members, with delivering the message to state highway officials.

Addresses for residents who live along the two highways will not change. Signage, with the new designations, will cost $17,000 for Highway 502 (the Battle Ground Highway) and $40,310 for Highway 503 (the Lewisville Highway). The estimates come from Scott Sawyer, Battle Ground public works director. Signs will be changed as funds are available.

In separate news stories, Columbian reporters Howard Buck and Isolde Raftery wrote of the plight of Darcy Williams, manager of the Amboy Market, where the perfect storm of road confusion seems to center. The store is on Northeast 216th Avenue, which follows Fargher Lake Highway, Lewisville Highway, 10th Avenue and 117th Avenue. "It is a little confusing. Because people continue thinking they're on the same path, thinking they're on 503, but then the name changes." He said he helps one or two daily who stop for directions.

Responding to a question from an editorial writer, Vancouver highways official Don Wagner noted in a written reply: "We should make it clear that we are not taking off the route number. The name is additive. Maps will still show the SR (state route) numbers as will our directional signing." Wagner is Southwest regional administrator for the Washington State Department of Transportation. The department is responsible for 20,000 miles of roads, nearly 3,000 bridges and 524 other structures in the state.

Will other roads and highways carry names as well as numbers? We hope so. Numbers don't carry the lyrical touch as road names.

In Clark County, roads and streets are named for historical figures, geographical locations, and sometimes just for fun. A Clark County road atlas lists "Gumboot Road," "Grist Mill Road," "Coyote Ridge Road," "Ashley Heights Drive," "Auto Mall Drive," "Depot Street," "Chkalov Drive," "McLoughlin Boulevard" and "Old Pup Creek Road," among scores of others. The "Pekin Ferry Road" along the Lewis River is familiar to many.

Gumboot Road? It's on the Clark-Skamania County line north of "Jack Mountain" and east of "Little Fly Creek." Numbers are dull. Names add character and, in the case of Battle Ground and Lewisville highways, a sense of location and place. Let's have more of the highway names.