Driving On WA SR-202 East In 1985 (Woodinville, Redmond, Fall City, North Bend)

Back in 1985, The Washington State Department of Transportation drove East on SR-202 and recorded video to document the highway. This was part of a project that photographed/videotaped the states highways every couple of years. This video now resides at The Washington State Archives who were kind enough to share it.

[@mikefly562]

So fascinating to see what Redmond was like...seemed like such a nice quiet town vs the dense urban city it is now. It's amazing that the Dairy Queen still survives after all these years.

[@willdowns1745]

Jeez Redmond is virtually unrecognizable now

[@willdowns1745]

Y’all have I-90 from issaquah to north bend?

[@highwayvideos3434]

Yes, will be uploaded soon.

[@DJBlueX]

I can definitely tell that driving back then was so much less stressful, I’m amazed at how I didn’t see a single light between 520 and I-90. I also noticed that 202 appeared to be a two way street until it was converted into a one way pair with Cleveland probably not long after this was filmed and it stayed like that until they were reverted back into two way streets back in 2017. These videos are a close second to using a DeLorean to see what my hometown was like a few years before I was born.

[@willdowns1745]

@@DJBlueX Little correction - there’s 2, the one on river street in Snoqualmie where the old fire station used to be (when they moved the fire station they also got rid of the river street light) and the North Bend Way light

[@Thinking.Of.Some.Handle]

@@DJBlueX Redmond way and Cleveland st were changed in 1986 to 1 way each. Then changed back to the way it used to be in recent years(2017) as you said. I had to go and look up in a Redmond historical website, and didn't say as to why it was changed that way.

[@BrianKiddDevDesign]

In Woodinville, that 76 station has been closed for years; I think since the '90s, yet the sign structure is still there to this day. They should probably deem it an historical landmark by this point. These WSDOT vids are so much fun.

[@BrianKiddDevDesign]

Even the structure of the building is still there.

[@Thinking.Of.Some.Handle]

Never understood why it wasn't demolished.

[@DJBlueX]

Thank you so much for uploading this! I’m a lifelong resident who knows this area like the back of my hand and have not seen Redmond look like this since I was a kid in the 1990s. Redmond has become so urbanized now and it’s wild how much the Snoqualmie area still looks the same after all these years. This was definitely the town I grew up in! Edit: Just watched the whole video and found myself calling “slugbug” for the first time in decades, really speaks to how rare those cars have become in the new twenties.

[@cliffhammer7953]

“slug-bug” It's been a few years since I heard that term! I even owned back in the late 70's. Most of my young years were in Tacoma.

[@Muttleytech]

Went to Redmond High. This is the Redmond I remember.

[@frederickclanahan1]

Wow!!!!!!! I was 12 in 1985. This is how I remember Redmond.

[@kwa829]

Great video! Loved the section now known as Redmond Woodinville Road . . . it was a "country road" back then with a much more "rural feel". 14:47 and 15:02: McDonalds and Dairy Queen, where they remain today. 15:46: The intersection of 520 and 202 was certainly far less of a big thing then compared to today! l chuckled a little at the way the narrator/driver pronounces it "Ay-Vonn-Dale Road".

[@12DMC81]

The traffic back then looked so nice and not stressful versus now

[@DJBlueX]

Definitely! Driving around Redmond today is so stressful and I greatly prefer to get around by bike these days. You can definitely tell how relaxed the pace of life was.

[@TrainScott]

I recognize where the train bridge is in Woodinville traffic wasn’t as hectic entering Woodinville. The signal past the bridge has no straight part past the intersection. Traffic did flow much better in Woodinville back in 1985 entering from SR 522 now Woodinville is hard to enter there ever heard of traffic synchronization with traffic lights?

[@MrCrs911]

I was 16 then and remember driving all around there. Grew up in Woodinville. Thank you for sharing this. Flooded with memories.

[@kurtf31r]

I forgot what it used to look like. I moved here in 1991 and it looked pretty much like this. Too bad we could not keep it like that. The whole 520 to 202 interchange - wow what a difference.

[@johnnyrottenwood4935]

Drove that stretch daily back then. Wish I could go back in time.

[@mofostopheles]

North Bender, here. This is just amazing to see it back then.

[@dmunikalyan]

Thank you for posting this.

[@Muttleytech]

The Redmond I grew up in. It’s not Redmond anymore.

[@ncascadehiker]

I wish he’d just left the mic on to record the radio broadcast.

[@JayMcK-yj8ht]

So area is near the Everett volcano that blow up ?

[@bugzrrad]

twede's/twin peaks cafe @46:58 on the left

[@davidfreesefan23]

Redmond? That’s where Microsoft is! Who knows? Bill Gates may very well have been driving one of the cars in this video…

[@hillbillyboy4648]

Square body