Description of the Route

Before the Sunset Highway opened in 1915 the state had to decide on which direction the route would take around Lake Washington. The state chose the southern route around lake. The reason for this decision was because Seattle's industrial area was south of town. Ten years would go by before the Sunset Highway gained an official north route around the Lake.

The Bothell Branch of the Sunset Highway was signed into law in February of 1925. This route was also known as Primary State Highway 2 BO (PSH 2 BO) and the North Branch. It began at Fall City and continued east to Redmond. From Redmond it turned north to Woodinville and then east to Bothell to connect with the Pacific Highway and then south into Seattle.

Travelers could then choose the the south or north route around the lake, or use the ferries that docked at many of the lakeshore towns, such as Bellevue, Medina and Kirkland on the Eastside of the lake, and the Leschi and Madison Park neighborhoods on the Seattle side.

This new route greatly helped the towns of Redmond, Woodinville and Bothell with increased traffic. In 1927 the Bothell newspaper was touting the North Branch as a better route around the lake as it had no hills to climb or dangerous curves to negotiate. The route they said is also a few miles shorter.

The Pacific Highway was rerouted north from Seattle on Aurora Ave in 1926 and bypassed Bothell. This left the Seattle-Bothell Road with no designation. In 1927 the Bothell newspaper was calling for this section to be named the "Puget Sound Highway" and telling the Bothell Commercial Club to "please take notice". The paper was also saying that in 2 years one cannot go any place without passing through Bothell.

By 1928 there was talk about extending the Bothell Branch all the way to Seattle on the old Pacific Highway. Then again in 1932 there was more discussion about the extension. Finally in 1937 the designation to extend the highway was made.

Fall City and Snoqualmie were bypassed by the Sunset Highway in 1936 by what is known as the Echo Lake Cutoff. This is the new alignment from Preston to North Bend. Now the eastern end of the Bothell Branch is without an official connection. This issue was remedied in the early 1940's as the route was officially extended from Fall City to North Bend to connect with the trunk road.

The area between Fall City and Bothell hasn't changed too much in 100 years as it continues to be in an agricultural area. Woodinville in particular is now known as the Woodinville Wine Country. It began in 1976 with the opening of the Chateau Ste. Michelle winery on the site of the Hollywood Farm. Today there are over 100 wineries as well as breweries and distilleries.