Washington State Route 904 - History

History

The first state–maintained highway to serve Cheney using the present-day route of SR 904 was the Central Washington Highway, added to the state highway system in 1913. The highway served Pasco, Ritzville, Cheney and Spokane, but the segment between Cheney and Four Lakes wasn't completed until after 1919. The Central Washington Highway became State Road 11 in a 1923 restructuring of the highway system. Between 1933 and 1939, U.S. Route 395 (US 395) was extended southwest from Spokane to Pasco, via Cheney. The state roads became Primary state highways in 1937 and hence, Primary State Highway 11 (PSH 11) was established to replace State Road 11. US 10 later became concurrent with US 395 and PSH 11 in 1940 after it was moved to a southern alignment.

On 29 June 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 into law, establishing a system of freeways that would later become the Interstate Highway System. Included in the system was Interstate 90, which was to replace US 10 and become concurrent with US 395, while bypassing Cheney. PSH 11, US 395 and I-90 were rerouted onto the future bypass in 1957. The former highway from Tyler to Four Lakes became Secondary State Highway 11H (SSH 11H) in 1961; the Cheney bypass opened on 18 November 1966. During the 1964 highway renumbering, SSH 11H became SR 904, part of the new highway system, then named the "sign routes". During STS-107, a NASA Space Shuttle mission, Lieutenat colonel Michael P. Anderson, a Cheney native, along with the rest of the Columbia's crew, were killed when it disintegrated during re-entry on 1 February 2003. SR 904 was posthumously renamed to the Lt. Col. Michael P. Anderson Memorial Highway in his honor later that February. The official dedication ceremony was held on 1 August 2003. Increasing traffic accidents and traffic has caused the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to create plans to widen the roadway between Cheney and Four Lakes. The plans, later named the route development plan, calls for a five-lane highway with new intersections built on the highway.