Westside Road: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Mount Rainier National Park, National Park Service
Hoke A, Owens E, Dykstra J. 2011. Westside Road: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Mount Rainier National Park, National Park Service. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 400031. NPS Pacific West Regional Office. Pacific West Regional Office/CLI Database
The Westside Road is a 15.2‑mile linear landscape that was designed by landscape architects and civil engineers as a scenic drive through public land. The alignment of the Westside Road was carefully chosen to showcase the spectacular scenery while carrying vehicles through the western areas of Mount Rainier National Park. The road begins at its intersection with the Nisqually Road approximately one mile from the southwest entrance to the park. It then follows the Tahoma Creek valley north before climbing around the tip of Emerald Ridge, through the South Puyallup River and St. Andrews Creek valleys, and around the tip of Klapatche Ridge before descending to the base of the mountain at its termination point at the North Puyallup River. The road also provides access to numerous other attractions along the route including Tahoma Vista, Round Pass, the St. Andrews Creek Bridge, and various trailheads. The Westside Road is a nationally significant historic designed landscape that is part of a rare example of an early national park scenic highway, and is an integral part of the early master plan for the park. The highway is distinguished by outstanding engineering achievements and features of naturalistic design. The period of significance for the Westside Road is from 1926‑1934, reflecting the period when the NPS coordinated the design and construction of the road. The naturalistic character of the road is evident in its remaining landscape characteristics: spatial organization, circulation, buildings and structures, small scale features, topography, views and vistas, vegetation, natural systems and features, and archaeological sites. These patterns and their surviving features continue to exist as originally planned, conveying the integrity of the road as a scenic highway.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Hoke, Amy; Owens, Erica; Dykstra, Justin
- Date of Issue
- 2011-09-12
- Publisher
- NPS Pacific West Regional Office
- Units
- MORA , PWR
- Keywords
- Architecture, automobile, Bureau of Public Roads, Development of Transportation and Land Tenure Systems, Engineering, Historic Designed Landscape, Landscape architecture, Naturalistic Landscape Design, Recreation, Road-Related, Rustic style, scenic highway, The Automobile Age and Suburban Development, Transportation, Views, Vista, West Side Highway, West Side Road
- Subjects
- CRIS-CL: 400031: Westside Road (400031)