End of US highway 395

Note: since I don't have access to a comprehensive collection of historical road atlases, much of the info below is based on the research of Robert Droz; click here to view his site. More research: Cameron Kaiser. Photo credits: Chris Elbert; Andy Field; Alex Nitzman; Ali Pezeshkpour; SRweb (WA DoT's web-based state route viewer)

US 395 was an original 1926 route, and ever since then its north end has been at Laurier - which is not so much a town as it is a port of entry. The photo below shows the last northbound US 395 shield:

Elbert, July 2008

That sign is about 10 miles south of the Canada line. This next one shows the speed limit sign as you approach the border:

SRweb, 1999

Then you see this sign...

SRweb, 1999

...and then you've reached the north end of US 395:

SRweb, 1999

That's what it used to look like, but Canada has replaced their customs facility since then:

Elbert, July 2008

The photo below shows what used to be the first US 395 sign, heading south out of Canada...

SRweb, 1999

...but Chris thinks that's gone now. At that point, you're about 112 miles north of US 395's original south terminus in Spokane:

SRweb, 1999

Since then, a new US 395 confirming marker has been posted just beyond there:

Elbert, July 2008

Originally the south terminus of US 395 was in Spokane. A 1929 map indicates it came in on Monroe Street, ending at 3rd:

Elbert, July 2008

But a 1931 map shows US 395 ending on Monroe at Sprague Avenue. The photo below shows that perspective:

Elbert, July 2005

That's looking south on Monroe at Sprague, which carried US 10 traffic - the silver car is at the historic south end of US 395. The view below is westbound on Sprague:

Elbert, July 2005

That was once westbound US 10, and to the right on Monroe was the south beginning of US 395 (which is routed along Division Street today, not Monroe). Original US 395 was pretty short: Spokane to Laurier is only about 125 miles. But in 1934, US 395 was extended south from Spokane, all the way down to San Diego CA, increasing the length of the route to nearly 1500 miles. You can view photos from there on this page.

Apparently the south end was truncated in about 1972; US 395 now ends at I-15 on the outskirts of Hesperia. The photo below represents the south beginning of US 395 for northbound I-15 traffic:

Field/Nitzman, Nov. 2008

That's a partial interchange where you exit right but then fly over the freeway via the overpass just visible in the distance. It's a little different for southbound traffic; if you're heading south on one highway and want to go north on the other, you have to use the Joshua Street interchange:

me, July 2004

After exiting there from southbound I-15, you go west (right) to US 395. The sign that greets you at the stop sign used to look like this...

Pezeshkpour, Nov. 2000

...but now looks like this:

me, July 2004

Both of those shots are looking west on Joshua; the road to the south (left) from there serves as an onramp to southbound I-15. But if you were to take a right turn there, you'd soon see the first northbound reassurance marker:

Field/Nitzman, Nov. 2008

That's fairly recent; just ahead from there is the mileage sign shown below:

me, July 2004

At the time of that photo, that was the first northbound US 395 assembly. Incidentally, "Kramer Jct" is shown on most maps as "Four Corners"; it's the junction of US 395 and CA hwy. 58.