Title: Interstate 5 is completed in Washington on May 14, 1969. - HistoryLink.org
Headings: Interstate 5 is completed in Washington on May 14, 1969.
Interstate 5 is completed in Washington on May 14, 1969.
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The Final Piece
Happy Trails

Content: In January 1967 the final freeway section from Everett to Tacoma was completed, linking the greater Seattle metropolitan area. But just north of Everett, another segment of I-5 remained incomplete, and would turn out to be the last piece of the freeway to be finished in Washington. This last segment stretched four miles, from the southern end of Marysville to the northern edge of Everett at the Snohomish River. The four-mile section cost $9.8 million (approximately $58 million in 2010 dollars) to build, and included 11 bridges in its short stretch. More than 1.7 million cubic yards of dirt was moved during its construction. In April 1969 the northbound lanes of this section opened to traffic. The southbound lanes opened on May 14, 1969. Happy Trails
This marked the completion of I-5 in Washington -- and indeed in the Pacific Northwest (the nearest stoplight was on the California side of the state line with Oregon) -- and the occasion was marked with a ceremony that was fairly typical for freeway openings during the 1960s. Various dignitaries came to the late-morning ceremony, which was held on the new Steamboat Slough Bridge just south of Marysville. State highway commissioner Harold Walsh of Everett served as the master of ceremonies, and there was the requisite bevy of beauties participating too;