Washington State Route 904

Washington State Route 904

State Route 904 (SR 904, named the Lt. Col. Michael P. Anderson Memorial Highway) is a 16.96-mile (27.29 km) long state highway in the U.S. state of Washington, located entirely in Spokane County. The route starts at an interchange with Interstate 90 (I-90) and U.S. Route 395 (US 395) in Tyler and travels to Cheney, serving the Eastern Washington University, before ending at I-90 and US 395 in Four Lakes. The roadway, named First Street in Downtown Cheney, is paralleled by three rail lines, a BNSF Railway route that carries Amtrak's Empire Builder, a Union Pacific route and the Eastern Washington Gateway Railroad.

The Central Washington Highway was established in 1913 and served Cheney via the current route of SR 904. The highway's designation were changed starting in 1923, when it became State Road 11. US 395 was extended southwest from Spokane to Pasco between 1933 and 1939. In 1937, State Road 11 became Primary State Highway 11 (PSH 11), which was concurrent with both US 395 and US 10 by 1940. A bypass of Cheney between Tyler and Four Lakes was planned at the same time as the Interstate Highway System. I-90 was created and PSH 11 was routed onto the future alignment in 1957. Secondary State Highway 11H (SSH 11H) used the original route and became SR 904 during the 1964 highway renumbering. The Cheney bypass was opened in 1966. After the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry during STS-107 in 2003, killing all seven passengers, the road was renamed the Lt. Col. Michael P. Anderson Memorial Highway after one of the passengers that was raised in Cheney. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is currently planning to widen SR 904 between Cheney and Four Lakes from two to five lanes as part of the route development plan, but no funds have been made available for the work.