Bellingham North
By Curt Cunningham

Leaving Bellingham heading north, the original Pacific Highway followed the Northwest Diagonal Road which is now called Northwest Drive. At W. Axton Road, the highway turned left and continued west toward Ferndale. At the intersection of W. Axton Road and Barrett Road, the highway turned south for a quarter mile and then turned west onto what is now La Bounty Drive and continued into Ferndale. This quarter mile of highway south of Barrett Road was abandoned in the 1960's when the freeway came through making this small section a ghost road.

In 1925 a new 7 mile section of highway was completed between Bellingham and Ferndale bypassing Northwest Drive and Axton Road. This new alignment also bypassed Ferndale to the northeast. The project included a new steel bridge over the Nooksack River. The bridge was a 220-foot through riveted steel span with 670-foot concrete approaches consisting of fourteen 40-foot spans and One 27-foot span. This structure was completely permanent in its construction, being of steel and concrete except the timber piling in the foundations which are under permanent ground water. It was designed for Class “A” loading. The special feature of this bridge was the great depth of pile foundation required the soil being silt and sand to a depth of over 100 feet.

This new highway gave motorists a direct route between these towns. Today this section is now called W. Maplewood Avenue and Pacific Hwy.

Jeff Fox who grew up near Chuckanut Drive in the 1950's tells us his story of driving north out of Bellingham on the old Pacific highway; "When I was very young, old Pacific Highway North of Bellingham (Northwest Drive) was still original single slab concrete, as was Axton Rd. Once it left Ferndale, it was original pavement until it got to Birch Bay. Even the hills had ripped cement."

"The 1925 route heading North from Bellingham is W. Maplewood Ave and we lost the original double slab a couple of years ago to my knowledge. My last time I was in Bellingham was 2014. I kick myself for not taking photos of this section. I must have driven it thousands of times as this was my transit route for years and years. Once north of Ferndale, one can drive both the old route and the 1930's route. Part of the 1930's route was still double slab concrete maybe 10 years ago, but most had been overlaid."

"By the way, Northwest Road from I-5 to Axton Rd., and Axton Rd. to I-5 was widened circa 1960 or so. The ground on both sides of the original pavement was dug down, filled with asphalt and the the road was given a chip seal. It remained like this for years before being resurfaced. North of Ferndale in the 1970's I went up to drive the old road (Vista Drive) and it was dirt and rocks. I was told that they used a crusher on the original cement and used it as a foundation for the new asphalt. I do not know how true this is but this is what I was told when I inquired about the dirt and rock surface. I am glad that I drove this old section many times in the 1960's with my 48 Chevy."

"The thrill of driving on an old highway is driving on the original pavement. I was lucky that I had the chance riding on many stretches when the road was still concrete."