ORoads: Historic Columbia River Highway

While the Historic Columbia River Highway was only designated in 1993, the highway itself is one of the oldest scenic highways of its kind in the country, and the first in Oregon. The highway began construction in 1913 as the Columbia River Highway #2, completed between Astoria and Pendleton in 1922. In 1926, the highway was designated as US-30. However, when the corridor between Portland and The Dalles was selected as the Interstate 80N corridor, a much wider, much straighter routing of the highway was needed between those points; a new Columbia River Highway #2 was built close to the old Columbia River Highway in sections from 1949 to 1968, when the last of the sections were upgraded to Interstate standards. By that point, the former Columbia River Highway was split up into several sections:

• The portion between the Burnside Bridge in Portland and Parkrose (US-30 Bypass Eastern Terminus) became the Sandy Boulevard Highway #59 and signed as US-30 Business in 1957.
• The portion between Parkrose and Wood Village became an extension of the Northeast Portland Highway #123 in 1957; the portion from Parkrose to Fairview is marked as an extension of US-30 Bypass, the rest is unmarked.
• The portion between Troutdale and Dodson became the Crown Point Highway #125 in 1950; it was left unmarked.
• The portion between Dodson and Cascade Locks was absorbed into the new Columbia River Highway by 1954, most likely around the same time the Crown Point Highway was designated.
• The portion through Cascade Locks became the Cascade Locks Highway #283 in 1957; it remained signed as US-30.
• The portion between Cascade Locks and Hood River was absorbed into the New Columbia River Highway by 1957, most likely around the same time the Cascade Locks Highway was designated.
• The portion through Hood River an extension of the Mt. Hood Highway #26 and signed as US-30 Business in 1956, then as US-30 and OR-35 in 1957.
• A 1.46 mile-long portion East of Hood River became the Columbia River Drive Highway #284 in 1957; it was left unmarked and ended at a "private road" which led to the Mosier Twin Tunnels. These tunnels were closed after massive rock fall damaged vehicles in March of 1953. By 1954, the tunnels were back-filled to stabilize the tunnels. Traffic had been permanently diverted onto the new Columbia River Highway segment by 1954.
• The portion between Mosier and The Dalles became the Mosier-The Dalles Highway #292 in 1957; it remained signed as US-30.
• The portion between Celilo Village and Miller became an extension of the Fulton Canyon-Wasco Highway #301 in 1960; it is unclear if it was signed as an extension of OR-206, but most likely was. The entire highway was redesignated as the Celilo-Wasco Highway #301 in 1966.
• The portion between Miller and Biggs Junction became a spur of the Fulton Canyon-Wasco #301 in 1960; it was left unsigned. The entire highway was redesignated as the Celilo-Wasco Highway #301 in 1966.
• The portion between Biggs Junction and Rufus became an unsigned frontage road for the new Columbia River Highway.

These designations remained on the historic segments more or less until 1993, when the Oregon Department of Transportation expressed a strong desire to restore segments of the historic highway that were bypassed by the construction of I-84 through the Gorge. Thus, they created the Historic Columbia River Highway #100, which starts at the Sandy River Bridge in Troutdale, running along the Crown Point Highway until Dodson, where it pairs up with the Columbia River Highway until Cascade Locks. From there, it runs into town along the Cascade Locks Highway until Forest Lane, where it continues (as a located line) until the Cascade Locks city limit, where it travels along an I-84 frontage road until Herman Creek Rd., where it rejoins I-84 until Cascade Locks. In Cascade Locks, it runs along a former section of the Mount Hood Highway until its junction with OR-35, where it continues straight ahead. About 1.2 miles along the road, the road becomes a 4.5 mile bike trail inaccessible to cars. Around Mosier, the road becomes re-accessible to cars, following a former section of the Mosier-The Dalles Highway until the The Dalles city limit, where the highway ends; from this point, the remainder of the Mosier-The Dalles Highway picks up the state highway designation.

Personally, I think that because it is an important state highway, this highway should have a state route attached to it. My pick would be OR-100 to correspond with the highway number. I was thinking that either they could add a shield underneath each Historic Columbia River Highway shield, or completely redo the HCRH shield to incorporate the OR-100 designation. My idea for the latter shield would be this:

Either way, it seems ridiculous to me to leave such an important highway of Oregon's past without a route designation.