Bill to rename highway dies

The bill to rename highway 99 after black civil war soldier William P. Stewart instead of confederate president Jefferson Davis died in the hands of the state Senate transportation committee Monday.

The bill, sponsored by Snohomish representative Hans Dunshee, passed the state House of Representatives unanimously, with one abstention, February 15.

It then moved to the Senate, where it was introduced February 18 and transferred to the transportation committee for review. And there it sat. March 4 was the state deadline for the transportation committee to start work on a bill, and it came and went without Dunshee’s bill being passed out. If the highway is to get a new name, it will have to wait until next legislative session.

The marker for the original Jefferson Davis Highway was erected beside the Peace Arch in 1940 as part of a cross-country drive by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to immortalize Davis in the nation’s highways. Dunshee had stated it was his intention after the highway was renamed to remove the Jefferson Davis marker, rousing the ire of local historians and Davis admirers.

The highway later got another name in 1950, as the Blue Star Memorial Highway commemorating the nation’s armed forces, but the marker erected beside the peace Arch is no longer in place. Highway 99 was slowly replaced by I-5 and only a small chunk remains between Everett and
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