Chuckanut Drive
By Curt Cunningham

The Road was also known as;

Waterfront Road, 1890 - 1901
State Road 6, 1905 - 1922
Pacific Highway, 1913 - 1931
State Road 1, 1923 - 1936
US Route 99, 1926 - 1931
U.S. Route 99 Alternate, 1931 - 1970
Primary State Highway 1, 1937 - 1967
Secondary State Highway 1F, 1967 - 1970
State Route 11, 1970 - present

The completion of Chuckanut Drive helped usher in a new era of transportation for Whatcom and Skagit counties. In addition to providing needed access for Skagit valley farmers and local residents to the city of Bellingham, it also offered a unique opportunity to view some of the most spectacular scenic views anywhere in Washington State. The road was designated State Road 6 in 1905 and was called the "Waterfront Road." By the time the road opened in 1915, it was becoming known as Chuckanut Drive.

In the Fifth Biennial Report of the State Highway Commission printed in 1914, says that; "The road overlooks the Samish Bay, in close proximity to the Great Northern Railroad and the Bellingham-Everett Interurban Electric Railroad, and when completed will be one of the most scenic roads in the State."

In 1864 a Telegraph line was strung between Vancouver, WA and New Westminster, BC. The line followed a trail from Blanchard to Fairhaven. In 1890 the telegraph trail from Fairhaven to the Chuckanut quarry had been widened enough for the passage of wagons.

The Waterfront Road

In September of 1891 Whatcom county approved a new county road commencing at the terminus of 16th street on the south line of South Fairhaven, thence in a southerly direction as near as practicable along the shore of Chuckanut bay to the southeast corner of section 24, township 37, of range 2 east, thence south along the Guide Meridian to the south boundary line of Whatcom county and ending at said boundary line. The road was to have a width of 60 feet.

On February 3, 1892 the first team passed over the new road from Chuckanut creek through South Fairhaven to Roeder and Roth's quarry at Chuckanut. (Today this place is called Teddy Bear Cove.) Walter Smith was the driver of the team whose errand was to deliver a half ton of groceries to the quarry boarding house. The fact that a pair of very light horses easily pulled the thousand pound load together with wagon and driver up the newly made grade was proof enough that Mr. Roeder and Mr. Roth had done some good engineering and a good deal of work. This 1.25 mile road was the result of their own enterprise and was paid out of their own funds. The difficulty of driving to the Chuckanut quarry with heavy loads was now much easier. 

In 1895 portions of the Waterfront Road had become part of the state highway system, and the road from Blanchard to the Whatcom county line became a state-maintained roadway. The path was a one lane dirt road with deep ruts, and was a better route into to Skagit county from the north than the Old Samish Lake Road which was a primitive unimproved path through the forest.

By late 1895 the road, at least in Skagit county, had followed a route similar to today's Chuckanut Drive, although calling it a "road" was generous as the people traveling on the road near Blanchard, which was near the shoreline, were often blocked by the high tide and had to wait until it dropped enough to let them pass.

On July 11, 1895 construction began on clearing the right-of-way for a bridge which was built across Chuckanut creek on the city connection with the Waterfront and Lake Samish roads. This bridge was near their intersection. The newspaper said that the trestle would be 75 feet high and quite long. This will become known as the 21st St. bridge.

In 1896 $6,000 was appropriated for improvements to the Waterfront wagon road. This work didn't make much difference in the rough trail and much more money would be needed to make it a good road.

The Waterfront Road only lasted until 1901, this is when Skagit county sold a 3 mile section of the right-of-way to the Great Northern Railroad for their new line between Burlington and Bellingham. The sale of the right-of-way made the road impassable and it caused a great controversy which lasted until 1907. The road would remain impassible from 1901 to 1915.

Not Complete Citizens

Printed in the Anacortes Weekly American on May 18, 1905 is an article about the early road over Chuckanut mountain; "It has become a matter of general comment that J. C. Kemper, one of the county commissioners of Whatcom county, has made the statement that he will never again set foot on Skagit county soil. It is a fact, however, that no one desires to compel him to give up his self imposed isolated imprisonment for life. Under existing conditions Mr. Kemper and the population of Bellingham and Whatcom county are outside of the pale of the United States as far as wagon road connections are concerned."

"It is out of the question for the isolated people of Whatcom county to get into the United States on dry land without driving through Skagit county, but there is no roadway connecting the two counties. Of course, Whatcom county has roadways extending into the British Columbia territory, but it is not to be presumed for one minute that this important province of Great Britain would be willing to annex this adjacent territory. Therefore Bellingham and Whatcom county is an isolated community. It is practically cut-off from the United States, and British Columbia wouldn’t claim them for anything in the world."

"This matter evidently worries Commissioner Kemper, as well as some other people. This dilemma could easily be remedied, if the people of Whatcom county only had enterprise enough to build a road into Skagit county, but some of them want something for nothing. A howl is sent up because Skagit county is not willing to build a waterfront road for Bellingham’s especial benefit through several miles of barren rock, where a jack rabbit or a squirrel would starve to death."

"There was a time, however, when the residents of Whatcom county were full fledged citizens of the United States; that was before the commissioners of Skagit county sold the water front road to the Great Northern Railroad company. The old roadway was in bad condition, and it would have cost thousands of dollars to put it in repair. As the roadway existed, the county was in danger of being sued for heavy damages on account of probable accidents. It was a matter of economy to get rid of the road, for it was an expensive luxury, and no benefits resulting from its existence."

"However, it will not be many months until Skagit county will have the Lookout road completed to the Whatcom county line, and the people of the latter locality will once more be in the United States."

The First Biennial report of the Highway Commissioner

In the First Biennial Report of the Highway Commissioner printed in 1906, Commissioner Joseph Snow wrote about the need for a road connecting Skagit and Whatcom counties. The following is from his report on State Road 6; "There was appropriated for the building of a state wagon road in Whatcom and Skagit counties, commencing on the public road at a point one mile north of that point where the same intersects with north line of Skagit county running thence southerly by the most practicable route to connect with the public road at Blanchard Slough, in Skagit county, a distance of 7 miles, and the sum of $6,000 was proposed."

"This apportionment was rejected by the board of commissioners of Skagit county because the route was impracticable and will cost the county too exorbitant an amount to justify the people of the county to establish said road. They also said that Whatcom county had a good road already constructed to the Skagit county line, and only a slight change would be necessary to swing the north 1/4 mile to connect with the Skagit county location, if the same were made, Whatcom county has been obliged to let the matter of survey for a connection rest until such time as the Skagit county survey should be made."

"This is the road which is locally known as the Waterfront road. The Legislature of 1895 passed an act entitled; An act to provide for the establishment and construction of a state wagon road through the Cascade mountains, from a point on the Columbia river in Stevens county to a point on the Skagit river in Skagit county, and westerly, making an appropriation therefore, and declaring an emergency."

"In the apportionment of the appropriation for locating and constructing this road, under the act of 1895, the sum of $4,000 was set aside for "the purpose of laying out, establishing and constructing a wagon road from Blanchard, in Skagit county, to the boundary line between Skagit and Whatcom counties. It is shown by the report of the Board of Commissioners appointed by the Governor to lay out, establish and construct the road provided for, that they designated this road as the western division of the Cascade wagon road. The following extracts from the report of the Board of State Road Commissioners will give a good idea of the difficulties attending the construction of this division of the road and its utility when constructed;"

"The western division of the road offered many serious obstacles for the board to overcome. It was an important piece of the work, as, before its completion from Blanchard to the Whatcom county line, there was not a wagon road leading from Whatcom county to any other part of the state. But it had to be constructed across the face of Chuckanut mountain, was largely of solid rock, with just enough earth to allow a dense growth of underbrush or timber or both."

"The preliminary survey of the road for the making of estimates was done by Skagit county, the engineer estimating the cost of the road at $18,549. As the State Board had but $4,000 at its command it was for some time doubtful whether any headway could be made. Finally, however, Skagit county appropriated $6,000, and the citizens of Fairhaven, Whatcom and Samish Flats generously contributed $1,000, and this, with the state's fund, built the road, which is 10 and 12 feet in width and an excellent roadway."

"When the Board began operations there was no wagon road leading out of Whatcom county into any other portion of the state. This was due to the fact that if a road was built it must be done by Skagit county, and as this expenditure would be more beneficial to Whatcom than Skagit taxpayers, it was next to impossible to get Skagit to appropriate the necessary funds."

"Whatcom county had done her share of the work, having built wagon roads to the Skagit line, where the improvement necessarily had to stop. While the estimate of the engineer placed the cost of this road at $18,549.80 owing to the rocky and precipitous region to be crossed, by making some slight changes the work was completed at a cost of about $11,000, of which the state paid but $4,000."

"This gives to the people of the state an opportunity to travel by vehicle from its northern to its southern limit, and enables Whatcom and adjacent counties to exchange and market their products without shipment by rail or steamboat."

"In 1901 the Seattle & Montana Railroad Company, having need of a large portion of the right of way of this wagon road, made a proposition to the commissioners of Skagit county, and in response thereto the said commissioners passed a resolution whereby it was unanimously ordered that this county accept from this railroad company the sum of eight thousand $8,000 dollars, the same being in excess of all expenses which would be incurred in re-location and re-opening said road."

"And it was determined upon the payment of said sum of money to execute an agreement with said railroad company for the appropriation of said road to execute and deliver to said railroad company a quit-claim deed thereof." Dated August 24, 1901." "The deed was executed and the money received by Skagit county and used to pay off county warrants. The road remains today as it was left when the railroad was completed; 3 miles of it destroyed and the remainder inaccessible. Skagit county has the money."

"I made formal demand upon the board of commissioners of Skagit county for the reconstruction of the road, and was met by a formal resolution declining to do so. Proceedings to compel the county to proceed in the matter were brought by the Attorney General, and the case was heard at Mt. Vernon, July 12th, 1906. No decision has yet been rendered."

"The loss of this road is a hardship to the people of the northwestern part of Skagit county particularly, as it enabled them to market products at the city of Bellingham without railway charges and to visit the city and return to their homes on the same day, something now impossible under the present railway schedule. Further, the people of Bellingham built a most excellent road to the Skagit county line, at a large expense and without aid from the state, and this is useless without the Skagit connection."

"A personal inspection of the line has convinced me that a good route for the proposed rebuilding of this road exists and that the cost of construction will be approximately $15,000 for a good wagon road. I would respectfully recommend that in case the courts decide that Skagit county cannot be forced to rebuild this road, this matter be referred to the Legislature with recommendation that the road be rebuilt by the state. It is to be hoped, however, that the suit against Skagit county will be successful."

The lawsuit will not be successful.

The Waterfront Road is Badly Needed

On April 26, 1906 Miles Fulk who was a well known farmer of the Skagit valley wrote to the editor of the Anacortes Weekly American giving his opinion on the Waterfront Road controversy; "Dear Sirs, in reply to your article on the Waterfront road question, I must differ with you. You say the road would be utterly valueless to Skagit county. Now I want to ask, who is Skagit county? Is it the merchants of your ten cent towns and your Skagit county officials, or is it the people of the county who feed them?"

"We had a good stock market all over the county until our officials gave away our road to Bellingham. Now how is it? Bellingham butchers cannot buy here because they are at the mercy of the Great Northern railroad, and can‘t drive their stock because there is no road. You say the sale of the road greatly aided Skagit county, it stopped our farmers from going to Bellingham to trade and it aided home merchants of the county. Again let me ask you, who is Skagit county? Is it our merchants or is it the common people who feed them?"

"If our merchants here in our country towns cannot compete with Bellingham, they do not know what competition means, for I can go 20 miles out of Bellingham to the little country stores, where they hare no competition and beat the Skagit county merchants prices and lots of their goods are bought of wholesale houses in Seattle, owned by Skagit county people. Talk about industries that might have collapsed if the road had not have been sold?"

"If that industry could not live and compete with industries of other places, who was it robbing, the poor man and his family who could not get away from his work long enough to go somewhere else. One instance during the hard times a few years ago a farmer on the Samish, Mr. John Martin, went to LaConner, after putting in his crop. He had one ton of oats he wanted to sell and wanted to put them into groceries. He got the best prices on oats, the lowest prices on groceries. He then went to Bellingham and got their prices. Shipped his oats to Bellingham by steamer and his goods were sent to him by steamer and he saved $12 on the same lot of oats."

"Now if the merchants and officials think they can handle the people always, they may find out different. The Skagit county deputy assessors have orders to collect a poll tax. If a man refuses to pay he is told to say nothing about it so he can collect from others. I have always paid the poll tax and others have not. This year I shall refuse to pay and see if they will collect it. Whatcom county refuses to accept a poll tax and will not issue receipts for same because they know the law to be unconstitutional."

"As for the Whatcom road being no benefit to Skagit county people, it is a mistake. I believe it more a benefit to Skagit county than to Whatcom county, and the Mt. Vernon people would never have stood for the selling of it, if there had not been sop thrown their way in the jail matter and some other matters that might be mentioned."

On April 25, 1907 it was said that Bellingham has already declared its intention of building the Waterfront Road if the high courts uphold Judge Joiner. The Anacortes Weekly American said that; "Those fellows up that way are determined to have that little lover's lane and automobile path to Chuckanut bay and the oyster beds if it takes all summer. Well, it is all very well, let 'em build it, so as Bellingham can give us a market for our surplus cattle, oats and hay."

The Waterfront Road Controversy is Laid to Rest

On April 25, 1907, the long drawn out Waterfront Road case in which Whatcom county was endeavoring to force Skagit county to rebuild it has ended with Judge Joiner of the Superior court ruling that no state road had ever been established, and that the road sold belonged to Skagit county and they were at liberty to dispose of it. The judge further deemed that the plan to reestablish the road on the old site was not advisable and upheld the Skagit county commissioners refusal to do so.

On April 30, 1908 the Weekly American said that; "Now that the court of final resort has passed the lemons all back to the passist, Bellingham might as well be gracious enough to admit that the old Waterfront Road really was a mountain goat trail that would give the average burro heart failure."

The Road is Surveyed

In 1907 wealthy Bellingham resident Charles X. Larrabee stepped in. Larrabee had a vision of a scenic drive running along the Samish and Chuckanut bays, and aided by his business partner Cyrus Gates, surveyed parts of the future road. Due to the persuasive lobbying efforts in Olympia that year, Larrabee also obtained funding to build the Fairhaven section of the Waterfront Road and succeeded in constructing and paving that section of Chuckanut Drive.

Construction Begins

The 1907 legislature made no provision for this road, but in 1909 $25,000 was appropriated. No contracts had been let on this road in 1910, and the entire appropriation was used at convict camp #4 in Skagit county, and in surveying and locating the entire 5.5 miles. The Skagit county camp was established on February 11, 1910 near Blanchard, and work on the grading was started February 14th. The work ceased October 8th, and about 4,000 feet of road was completed. The work was almost entirely through solid rock.

In 1910 construction began using Convicts from the Walla Walla Penitentiary who were put to work on the road, and were monitored by armed guards. The convicts were not skilled at road construction, and the road was hard to build as it required heavy rock work. Parts of the roadbed had to be blasted out of the cliffs overlooking the water. Still, the convicts were able to complete more than 5 miles of roadway along its southern end in Skagit County before the money ran out and the convicts were sent back to Walla Walla.

In the 1910 State Highway Report of the Third Biennial they said that State Road #6, known as the Waterfront Road was to be 5.5 miles long. The route had been the subject of severe criticism because less than one mile of it had been completed by 1910 with the $25,000 which was appropriated for it. The Great Northern Railway had bought from Skagit county part of the right of way on which the original road along the west side of Chuckanut mountain was built, leaving no good right of way for a road of any character.

It had been testified before the supreme court that it was wholly impracticable to build a wagon road along this mountain at any cost, while others testified to the effect that $100,000 to $150,000 would not suffice to build the road. However, starting at the worst end of this road, a mile had been built at a cost of $25,000, going almost entirely through a heavy side hill cut of solid rock. Heavy masonry retaining walls were built, and the work so far as it has gone was excellent.

By October 8, 1910, the following quantities of earth had been moved; 334 acres heavy clearing, 6,198 cubic yards solid rock, 9,853 cubic yards shell rock, with 1,807 cubic yards of dry wall masonry. If ordinary contract prices were applied to those quantities, and if the reasonable costs of locating the 5.5 miles and of engineering supervision were added, this road work would have been unfavorable. It was conceded and the records show that not much work was accomplished per convict day on the road as on others built elsewhere in the state by convicts.

The Highway commissioner then said that; "perhaps the rugged character of the country makes this road one that is not well adapted for building under the convict labor system, due to the large number of guards required. In any event, we recommend the completion of this road by contract. The public criticism of this road strikingly illustrates the necessity of either making appropriations for particular state roads only after a complete survey and estimate of costs has been made, or of abandoning entirely the previous practice of legislative action in appropriating funds for specified state roads. We believe that the latter policy should be adopted, and we shall discuss the matter later in this report."

"It is evident that the people who expect to be benefited by this Chuckanut road had come to expect a completed 5.5 mile road for $25,000 appropriated by the last legislature, when, in fact, no engineering estimate of its cost appears to have been made prior to the time the $25,000 was appropriated. Incidentally, we may add, the public should learn neither to condemn any road for its high cost per mile nor to praise any road for its low cost per mile, until it has before it the itemized quantities of work involved and a full statement of the character of the work done."

The number of days worked by the convicts, inclusive of Sundays and holidays, was 200, the average work force was 51 men, including blacksmiths, engineers' helpers, carpenters and camp labor. The convicts used 7,322 pounds of powder to blast out the rock. The Great Northern Railway was built through the same kind of material found on this road, and they have experienced the same difficulties which were encountered by the department. The rock was not hard to blast, but in places it was necessary to cut back to a rather flat slope in order to prevent large blocks of stone breaking away from the face of the ledge.

The location of the railroad tracks directly underneath made the work even more difficult, as care had to be taken not to damage the track. Considerable trouble was experienced in building the dry wall on account of the unskilled labor and inexperience of the camp superintendent. The disposition of the convicts was to get as much done as possible, and in some cases the quality of the work was slighted. The cost of this section of the road compared very favorably with the contract prices for the same classes of work, and if the expense of keeping the convicts at the penitentiary is deducted from the total cost the work had been completed at quite a saving from contract figures.

In addition to this, the convicts have had the advantage of the outdoor work, a privilege they seemed to appreciate highly. Commissioner Henry Bowlby recommended that this road be built as established. The unfinished road would remain that way for the next 3 years. During that time weeds had grown on the right-of-way which had been constructed by the convicts.

In 1913 the legislature appropriated money for more roadwork and on December 29, 1913 the contract was put out for bidding. There were problems with this final round of work, which was initially handled by a private company, Quigg Construction. This part of the road was directly above Great Northern Railway's track, and its construction caused frequent landslides that rained down on the rails below, causing big headaches for both state and railway officials. The state highway department eventually took over the completion of the road the following year.

In the Fifth Biennial Report of the Highway Commissioner printed in 1914 said that; "the old survey of the Waterfront Road was retraced in 1913 and a contract awarded to the Quigg Construction Company for the improvement of 4.7 miles of road, the south end of which connects with the section of State Road 6 constructed by convict labor in 1910. This 4.7 miles is practically completed, at a cost of $59,552.65, including an overhead crossing of the Pacific Northwest Traction Railway Co.'s tracks. Before the road can be opened to traffic, a concrete wall, dry wall, or cripple bent bridge will have to be built along the face of two rock bluffs, the portion constructed by convict labor was improved, and slides that will necessarily come down this winter were removed, and the entire improvement was surfaced with crushed rock or gravel. The work was completed on June 20th, 1914.

On August 17, 1915 the Catholic Northwest Progress printed an article about the Waterfront Road. They said that the Waterfront road was the “missing link” in Skagit and Whatcom counties, and would be open for travel as part of the Pacific Highway. November 1st was the target date for the opening. This road is unique as it is the only section of the Pacific Highway in the state which runs along tidewater, and is to become noted as furnishing the best scenery on any section of the Coast road in the three states that it traverses. It was built along the hills overlooking Puget Sound paralleling and running almost directly over the Great Northern right of way.

The railroad and state highway are so close for a number of miles that the contractor who undertook the road construction in 1914 was constantly embroiled in disputes with the railroad, which claimed its right of way was obstructed land the safety of its trains endangered. The state highway department took the work over the following year, and completed the highway under force account, which eliminated all of the friction that formerly existed with the railroad and giving the state an excellent piece of highway.

In the spring of 1915 the Legislature appropriated money for the improvement of Chuckanut Drive. The work under this improvement between Blanchard and Bellingham was performed by S. Murchison under a force account. Contract 217 was awarded on May 31, 1915 and the work consisted of widening the roadbed from a width of 16 feet to a width of 20 feet and constructing concrete trestles and concrete retaining walls on about 5 miles of the Waterfront Road and reconstructing about 6 miles of the Pacific Highway between the Waterfront Road and Bellingham.

On the Waterfront Road, considerable difficulty was encountered during construction in preventing rock from being thrown on to the Great Northern Railway Company track below the road. A number of claims were made by the railway company for damages. The Waterfront Road was opened to travel on October 15, 1915 although construction of the retaining walls was not quite finished. Between the Waterfront Road and Bellingham a large fill requiring about 16,700 cubic yards of material was made at Wild Cat Cove, thereby eliminating a steep grade on bad alignment and avoiding two crossings with the interurban tracks. The sum of $104,881.83 had been expended on the improvement of this section between Blanchard and Bellingham.

Chuckanut Drive is Completed

Chuckanut Drive the new waterfront section of the Pacific Highway was officially opened for traffic on Saturday, October 23, 1915 with a ceremony which was held at the State Park 5 miles south of Bellingham. The new highway connected Bellingham with the farming districts of Skagit county. The dedication began at 2pm with Governor Lister, C. L. Morris of the Seattle Auto club, Judge R. D. Nichols, chairman of the roads and bridges committee of the last legislature, and Speaker Conner of the house were among the speakers.

The Highway is Paved and Renamed

In 1921 the paving of Chuckanut Drive between Fairhaven and Blanchard was completed. Between Burlington and Blanchard, the Pacific Highway had utilized the pre-existing State Road 6, and in 1923 due to the restructuring of the highway system old State Road 6 was completely replaced by State Road 1.

In 1931 Chuckanut Drive became U.S. Route 99 Alternate and a new highway running from Burlington to downtown Bellingham was completed. This new Pacific Highway bypassed Chuckanut Drive and ran due north from Burlington to Alger and then northwest along Lake Samish and Lake Padden to Bellingham bypassing Fairhaven.

In 1967, Secondary State Highway 1F was established, connecting US Highway 99 Alternate to US Highway 99 via Fairhaven. During the same year, Interstate-5 replaced US Highway 99 altogether, leading to the removal of the US Highway 99 alternate designation on Chuckanut Drive, and in 1970 the road became State Route 11.

Reminiscences of Chuckanut Drive

In September of 2022 Jeff Fox wrote in to this website and shared a story about traveling over Chuckanut Drive. He said that; "I grew up just off of Chuckanut Drive in the 1950's. I remember well the original pavement from 12th Street heading south. Once one rounded the curve at Fairhaven Park the road was a narrow single slab with concrete additions on both sides. This went for about a half mile and then the road became a wider single slab as originally poured."

"This section was overlaid in 1954 to the Bellingham city limits. Chuckanut was single slab until one reached a point just north of the Great Northern tunnel and then it became double slab concrete. This was overlaid with asphalt in 1956 with the exception of the large horseshoe curve before reaching Oyster Creek. The large Horseshoe curve was covered with asphalt I believe in the late 1980's, I can't remember the exact year."

"In the 1950's we used to go to Friday Harbor to see my dad's aunt. Since we lived a half mile off Chuckanut we would take that route. When we got to Bow Hill Road we took a short-cut to the Anacortes Highway and made a right on a narrow concrete highway, went through Edison and then the concrete stopped and the road was then some type of macadam paving. I remember a large hill that the road went up and it was a straight shot south to the intersection of the Burlington Highway."

"When we got to the Burlington Anacortes highway we turned right. It saved us quite a bit of time. Chuckanut Drive from the Bellingham City limits south was overlaid in 1956 so before that we were traveling on the original concrete. Chuckanut had 4 viaducts and 12 bridges, which 3 are still intact as built and the 1st bridge closest to Bellingham was modified many years ago. I do not know what all they did, but what was the bridge is now a solid retaining wall. They may have strengthened the bridge and then to widen the roadway extended everything out."

"I have a 1967 photo taken from below the 2nd viaduct, and the same for the 3rd with its very unusual railing. I had a B&W photo of the 4th, but my photos got lost in a move many years ago. The very unusual railing was 100% intact at the time of the 1967 forest fire. Over the next few years rock slides broke out 2/3rds of it. It was repaired in the sections that were damaged with a solid wall but with the general outline pattern matching the old."

Today's Chuckanut Drive

Chuckanut Drive still retains much of its original appearance except for the asphalt. The route continues to be scenic although the growth of the forest has blocked some of the views. Not to worry as there are many places along the route which were made for motorists to park to take in the beautiful scenery. 

Chuckanut Drive has been designated a Washington State Scenic Byway.