{{Short description|State highway in Klickitat County, Washington}} {{Use American English|date=May 2025}} {{good article}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2015}} {{Infobox road |state=WA |type=SR |route=141 |alternate_name= |spur_type=SR |spur_of=14 |section=275 |map={{maplink|frame=yes|plain=yes|frame-align=center|frame-width=290|frame-height=240|type=line|raw={{Wikipedia:Map data/Wikipedia KML/Washington State Route 141}}}} |map_custom=yes |map_notes=SR 141 highlighted in red, SR 141 Alt. in blue |length_mi=29.25 |length_ref=<ref name="log">{{WSDOT State Highway Log |year=2018 |pages=983–988 |link=yes |access-date=February 1, 2020}}</ref> |established=1964<ref name="rcw">{{cite web |year=1970 |url=http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=47.17.275 |title=RCW 47.17.275: State route No. 141 |publisher=Washington State Legislature |access-date=July 12, 2009}}</ref> |direction_a=South |terminus_a={{jct|state=WA|SR|14}} in Bingen |junction={{jct|state=WA|SR-Alt|141}} near White Salmon |direction_b=North |terminus_b={{jct|state=WA|FR|24}} at Klickitat–Skamania county line |counties=Klickitat |previous_type=SR |previous_route=131 |next_type=SR |next_route=142 }}
'''State Route 141''' ('''SR 141''') is a state highway in Klickitat County, Washington, United States. It runs north–south for {{convert|29|mi|km}}, connecting SR 14 in Bingen to White Salmon and Trout Lake. The highway follows the White Salmon River towards the base of Mount Adams, terminating at the Skamania County border at the entrance to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, where it becomes Forest Road 24 (Carson Guler Road). SR 141 is a state scenic highway that provides access to recreation areas on the south side of Mount Adams.
The original road along the White Salmon River was built in the 1920s by local residents and designated by the state government in 1937 as Secondary State Highway 8D (SSH 8D). The highway was renumbered to SR 121 in 1964 and then SR 141 in 1967. The highway has a signed alternate route that connects it to SR 14 at Underwood, bypassing Bingen and White Salmon.
==Route description== [[File:Mt Adams from Trout Lake Highway.jpg|thumb|left|View of Mount Adams from SR 141]]
SR 141 begins in downtown Bingen at an intersection with SR 14 near the city's Amtrak train station. It travels north through Bingen as Oak Street and turns northwest to ascend a ridge and enter the adjacent settlement of White Salmon. The highway travels west through White Salmon on Jewett Boulevard and continues along the ridge overlooking SR 141 and the Hood River Bridge crossing the Columbia River.<ref name="WSDOT-Map">{{cite map |author=Washington State Department of Transportation |year=2014 |title=Washington State Highways, 2014–2015 |url=https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2006/06/13/TouristMapFront_withoutHillshade.pdf |location=Olympia |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |access-date=February 1, 2020 |archive-date=February 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170221194441/https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/2D10703F-9ADF-4A95-A14E-2A36FEAF1C20/0/Statewide2014NoHillshade.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> SR 141 enters a rural area on the outskirts of White Salmon and descends towards a plateau, making a sharp turn west over a stream and north to follow Winebarger Road. The highway continues its descent towards the White Salmon River, intersecting an alternate route with access to SR 14.<ref name="google">{{google maps |title=State Route 141 |url=https://www.google.com/maps/dir/45.7148028,-121.4664454/45.9626542,-121.6134926/@45.8572714,-121.6809154,49825m/am=t/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m9!4m8!1m5!3m4!1m2!1d-121.5053111!2d45.7306991!3s0x54960dfceeff9527:0xa22d416295b227db!1m0!3e0 |access-date=February 1, 2020}}</ref><ref name="WSDOT-Corridor">{{cite web |date=April 2, 2018 |title=Corridor Sketch Summary – SR 141: SR 14 Jct (Bingen) to Skamania County Line |url=https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2017/09/14/CSS351-SR141-SR14JctBingen-SkamaniaCountyLine.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200202065558/https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2017/09/14/CSS351-SR141-SR14JctBingen-SkamaniaCountyLine.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 2, 2020 |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |access-date=February 1, 2020 }}</ref>
The highway follows the White Salmon River upstream to Husum, where it crosses over below Husum Falls on a historic steel and concrete truss bridge.<ref>{{cite web |author=Bridge and Structures Office |date=August 2018 |title=Bridge List (M 23-09.09) |page=233 |url=https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/publications/manuals/fulltext/M23-09/BridgeList.pdf |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |access-date=February 1, 2020}}</ref> SR 141 continues north along the west bank of the river, passing through farmland and forestland that is dominated by Ponderosa pine. At BZ Corner, it intersects a local highway that travels northeast to Glenwood and the Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge.<ref name="WSDOT-Map"/> The highway travels north through the expanded White Salmon River Valley and reaches the town of Trout Lake near Mount Adams, where it turns west towards the Cascade Mountains, following Cave Creek. SR 141 terminates at the Klickitat–Skamania county line, which also marks the boundary of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.<ref name="log"/><ref name="google"/> The road continues west as Forest Road 24 on Carson Guler Road towards the Guler Ice Caves and the Indian Heaven Wilderness Area; the forest road is closed annually from December 1 to March 31 with limited access for winter recreation use.<ref name="WSDOT-Map"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Forest Road 24 |url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/giffordpinchot/recreation |publisher=United States Forest Service |access-date=February 6, 2020}}</ref>
SR 141 is designated as part of the Washington State Scenic and Recreational Highways system and provides access to the south side of Mount Adams, which includes the Mount Adams Wilderness and Mount Adams Recreation Area.<ref name="WSDOT-Corridor"/><ref>{{cite web |year=1967 |title=RCW 47.39.020: Designation of portions of existing highways and ferry routes as part of system. |url=https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=47.39.020 |publisher=Washington State Legislature |access-date=February 1, 2020}}</ref> SR 141 is maintained by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), which conducts an annual survey on state highways to measure traffic volume in terms of annual average daily traffic. Average traffic volumes on the two-lane highway in 2016 ranged from a minimum of 180 vehicles near Gifford Pinchot National Forest to a maximum of 6,400 vehicles in downtown Bingen.<ref name="ATR">{{cite report |year=2017 |title=2016 Annual Traffic Report |pages=147–148 |url=http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/travel/pdf/Annual_Traffic_Report_2016.pdf |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |access-date=February 1, 2020 |archive-date=August 12, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812180326/http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/travel/pdf/Annual_Traffic_Report_2016.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==History==
The Klickitat County government began planning a road along the upper White Salmon River in the 1910s after a request from residents of Glenwood to build a road. Local residents volunteered to build the road in the 1920s under supervision from the county government, using private donations to fund their cause.<ref name="WSE-2002">{{cite news |last=McCoy |first=Keith |date=April 24, 2002 |title=Rowdy River Chapter IX: Roads, Highways, Bridges...and Ghosts of Towns |url=https://www.whitesalmonenterprise.com/archive/rowdy-river/article_9a951493-ef79-50f4-9a42-0cbaa8937032.html |work=White Salmon Enterprise |access-date=February 1, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite map |year=1929 |title=Hood River, Wash.–Oreg. |scale=1:125,000 |type=Topographic map |url=https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/ht-bin/tv_browse.pl?id=f36c5b586e251cb0bc58006a78ac3044 |publisher=United States Geological Survey |access-date=February 1, 2020 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The early road was added to the state highway system in 1937 as Secondary State Highway 8D (SSH 8D), a branch of Primary State Highway 8 (PSH 8) along the Columbia River.<ref>{{cite book |date=March 18, 1937 |title=Session Laws of the State of Washington, 1937 |chapter=Chapter 207: Classification of Public Highways |page=1005 |chapter-url=http://leg.wa.gov/CodeReviser/documents/sessionlaw/1937c207.pdf |publisher=Washington State Legislature |access-date=February 1, 2020}}</ref> The state government funded several improvements to the road, including a steel truss bridge across the White Salmon River at Husum Falls that opened in 1940.<ref name="WSE-2002"/><ref>{{cite news |date=August 26, 2014 |title=White Salmon Bridge on Hwy 141 to be repainted |url=https://www.columbian.com/news/2014/aug/26/white-salmon-bridge-hwy-141-repainted/ |work=The Columbian |access-date=February 1, 2020}}</ref> The state legislature created a western branch of SSH 8D in 1951 that would bypass Bingen and White Salmon.<ref name="Leg1951">{{cite book |date=March 20, 1951 |title=Session Laws of the State of Washington, 1937 |chapter=Chapter 273: Establishing Primary and Secondary Highways |page=919 |chapter-url=http://leg.wa.gov/CodeReviser/documents/sessionlaw/1951c273.pdf |publisher=Washington State Legislature |access-date=February 1, 2020}}</ref>
The state highway system was renumbered and restructured as "sign routes" (later "state routes") in 1964. Under the new system, SSH 8D was initially designated as State Route 121 (SR 121),<ref>{{cite news |date=January 16, 1964 |title=New Numbers Assigned To State Highways |page=1 |work=Mt. Adams Sun |url=http://mas.stparchive.com/Archive/MAS/MAS01161964P01.php |via=SmallTownPapers |access-date=September 29, 2021}}</ref> an auxiliary route of SR 12, the successor to PSH 8.<ref name="SRID">{{cite web |last=Prahl |first=C. G. |date=December 1, 1965 |title=Identification of State Highways |url=https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2005/04/26/Identification-of-state-highways.pdf |publisher=Washington State Highway Commission |access-date=April 24, 2019 |archive-date=February 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217112902/https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/6836215D-E301-43F3-895A-472BD2FDE86A/0/Identification.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite WSDOT map |year=1964 |access-date=February 1, 2020}}</ref> The extension of U.S. Route 12 (US 12) across Washington in 1967 caused SR 12 to be renumbered to SR 14, and SR 121 became SR 141 as a result.<ref>{{cite news |date=June 22, 1967 |title=State Wins Highway Battle; 410 Redesignated U.S. 12 |page=22 |work=Tri-City Herald}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |date=February 24, 1970 |title=Session Laws of the State of Washington, 1970 1st extraordinary session |chapter=Chapter 51: State Highways—Route Numbers |page=362 |chapter-url=http://leg.wa.gov/CodeReviser/documents/sessionlaw/1970ex1c51.pdf |publisher=Washington State Legislature |access-date=February 1, 2020}}</ref> The former SR 141 was absorbed into US 12 during a relocation caused by the Mossyrock Dam's construction,<ref>{{cite news |date=December 3, 1967 |title=New Highway Bypasses New Reservoir |page=B14 |work=The Tacoma News Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-tribune-new-highway-bypasses-ne/129114786/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=July 29, 2023}}</ref> while SR 121 was re-used for another highway in Thurston County.<ref>{{cite WSDOT map |year=1970 |access-date=February 1, 2020}}</ref>
Traffic congestion on SR 141 during peak months has risen due to an increase in the number of visitors to recreational facilities on the corridor, requiring lowered speed limits to prevent vehicle–pedestrian collisions.<ref>{{cite news |date=August 2, 2006 |title=DOT reduces speed limit on SR 141 |url=https://www.whitesalmonenterprise.com/archive/dot-reduces-speed-limit-on-sr/article_a2a23ce0-dc21-51a8-8cdf-2887254cb5b8.html |work=White Salmon Enterprise |access-date=February 1, 2020}}</ref> A shoulder rumble strip on the highway was removed and replaced with a fog stripe during a chip sealing project in 2014, causing local residents and recreational users to protest.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bakke |first=Sverre |date=July 31, 2014 |title=Rumble strip removal on 141 upsets non-cyclists |url=https://www.whitesalmonenterprise.com/news/rumble-strip-removal-on-upsets-non-cyclists/article_d767ca39-4747-53f6-9108-27918e2ab6e5.html |work=White Salmon Enterprise |access-date=February 1, 2020}}</ref> In response, WSDOT installed a {{convert|6|in|adj=mid}} rumble strip along the shoulder line to improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists using SR 141.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bakke |first=Sverre |date=August 14, 2014 |title=WSDOT proposes solution to safety issues on SR 141 |url=https://www.whitesalmonenterprise.com/news/wsdot-proposes-solution-to-safety-issues-on-sr/article_e1ae7337-31d6-5e20-84b1-456a18e1769c.html |work=White Salmon Enterprise |access-date=February 1, 2020}}</ref> Despite the improvements, a majority of respondents to a local survey in 2015 stated that they felt it was not safe to walk or bike on SR 141.<ref>{{cite news |last=Marra |first=Amber |date=February 19, 2015 |title=Survey says: Walkers, bikers want more options |url=https://www.whitesalmonenterprise.com/news/survey-says-walkers-bikers-want-more-options/article_fd5dbdec-5b00-56e3-848d-b6256e9ad5d8.html |work=White Salmon Enterprise |access-date=February 1, 2020}}</ref>
==Major intersections== {{WAinttop|length_ref=<ref name="log"/>}} {{WAint |county=Klickitat |cspan=2 |location=Bingen |mile=0.00 |road={{jct|state=WA|SR|14|city1=Vancouver|city2=Kennewick}} }} {{WAint |location=none |mile=4.69 |road={{jct|state=WA|SR-Alt|141|dir1=south}}<!-- cataloged as a spur route, but signed as an alternate --> |notes= }} {{WAint |county1=Klickitat |county2=Skamania |cspan=2 |location=none |mile=29.23 |road={{jct|state=WA|FR|11|location1=Atkisson Sno-Park}} |notes= }} {{WAint |location=none |mile=29.25 |road={{jct|state=WA|FR|24|name1=Carson Guler Road}} |notes=Continuation beyond northern terminus }} {{jctbtm}}
==Alternate route== {{infobox road small |state=WA |type=WA-Alt |route=141 |length_mi=2.16 |length_ref=<ref name="log"/> |location=Klickitat County |formed=1970 }}
A designated alternate route connects SR 141 to SR 14 in Underwood, bypassing Bingen and White Salmon.<ref name="WSDOT-Corridor"/> The highway follows the White Salmon River to its mouth at the Columbia River, traveling for {{convert|2.16|mi|km}}.<ref name="log"/><ref name="WSDOT-Map"/> It was established in 1970 as part of SR 141, becoming the successor to the west branch of SSH 8D.<ref name="rcw"/><ref name="Leg1951"/> The alternate route carried average daily traffic volumes of 3,200 vehicles in 2016.<ref name="ATR"/>
===Major intersections=== {{WAinttop|county=Klickitat|length_ref=<ref name="log"/>}} {{WAint |location=Underwood |mile=0.00 |road={{jct|state=WA|SR|14|city1=Vancouver|city2=Kennewick}} }} {{WAint |location=none |mile=2.16 |road={{jct|state=WA|SR|141|nolink1=yes|city1=BZ Corner|city2=Trout Lake|city3=Glenwood|countydab3=Klickitat |city4=White Salmon}} |notes= }} {{jctbtm}}
{{clear}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Attached KML|display=inline,title}} *[https://www.angelfire.com/wa2/hwysofwastate/sr141.html Highways of Washington State]
{{State highways in Washington related to SR 14}}
141 Category:Transportation in Klickitat County, Washington