 The highway between Richland and Kennewick was originally part of the first federal wagon road to be constructed in the Pacific Northwest, laid in 1853 between Fort Walla Walla and the Puget Sound region via Naches Pass.The wagon road is commemorated with a historic marker in Columbia Park, just north of the Edison Street interchange on SR 240.Local Native American tribes also used a trail following the route of the Hanford Highway to reach points west of Rattlesnake Mountain, including Yakima.