Interstate 82 is an Interstate Highway in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States that travels through parts of Washington and Oregon. It runs 144 miles from Ellensburg, Washington, to Hermiston, Oregon, passing through Yakima and the Tri-Cities area. The highway also connects I-90 and I-84, which continue to Seattle and Boise, Idaho, respectively. I-82 travels concurrently with U.S. Route 97 between Ellensburg and Union Gap, south of Yakima; and US 12 from Yakima to the Tri-Cities. Its only auxiliary route, I-182, connects the highway to Richland and Pasco in the Tri-Cities. I-82 primarily serves the Yakima Valley region, following the Yakima and Columbia rivers southeastward to the Tri-Cities. It crosses the Columbia River on the Umatilla Bridge and runs southwesterly through Umatilla County, Oregon, terminating at I-84 southwest of Hermiston. The I-82 corridor was originally used by several state and national highways, including the Inland Empire Highway and US 410, which were built in the early 20th century. The federal government created I-82 in late 1957 to serve military facilities in the region, replacing an earlier designation for what is now I-84. The first section of I-82 to be constructed was the easterly bypass of Yakima, which opened in 1963 and was gradually extended north to Ellensburg by 1971. The Yakima Valley section, connecting Union Gap to Prosser, was constructed between 1977 and 1982. The routing of the highway between Prosser and I-84 was very controversial with residents of the Tri-Cities area, who lobbied for a longer I-82 alignment to serve them. Oregon legislators and highway officials remained opposed to a routing that bypassed Umatilla, leading to several attempts at finding a compromise along the Wallula Gap or in other areas southeast of the Tri-Cities. In 1973, Oregon and Washington adopted a federal compromise to build I-82 through Umatilla and around the outskirts of the Tri-Cities with a spur route to serve the area directly. The Tri-Cities section opened in 1986 while in Oregon, the final section of I-82 was completed in 1988. In the early 2000s, Oregon highway officials examined plans to extend I-82 further south through eastern Oregon and towards California, but rejected them for further consideration.
Continue reading...From
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.