Published: Thursday, November 19, 2009
Safety long a concern for road involved in fatal wreck
Saturday's fatal accident wasn't the first for North Road, but fixes are coming.
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Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald
Cars navigate the curve on North Road just after Lynnwood High School where two men died after their car ran off the road and crashed into a tree.
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Ron Melander heard a sound that startled him right out of bed early Saturday morning.
He's heard plenty of cars run off the pavement over the year and a half he's lived at the sharp curve on North Road.
Saturday was different.
“There was no screeching or anything,” said Melander, 66. “It just went ‘wump,' and it was over.”
A car with four young men driving home from a party struck a tree in front of Melander's rented home. Police believe the 1993 Volkswagen Corrado was going about 70 mph to 80 mph when it slid off the road. The speed limit leading into the curve is 35 mph.
Killed were driver Brandon Norton, 21, who was the designated driver, and passenger Ehlo Blacknall, 20. Seriously injured were Trevor Moore, 21 and Tyler Gilbert, 20. Moore is on life support at Harborview Medical Center.
People who live along North Road, which connects Filbert Road, or Highway 524, to 164th Street SW, say the accident only heightens safety concerns they've raised for years.
Saturday's fatal crash happened only yards away from a memorial to three other young people who lost their lives in a wreck there about a dozen years ago.
There have been 31 motor vehicle accidents reported along North Road since April 2002, according to Snohomish County Fire District 1. Of those, 16 were injury accidents and two involved pedestrians.
Collision studies rate the road as one of the safer ones among the 620 road segments studied countywide.
Neighbors worry about the frequency of cars going into the ditch. And now that the new Lynnwood High School is just up the road, some worry about the safety of students who walk along the road. There are no sidewalks. There is a shoulder only on the west side of the road.
Marv Nicholson, who lives along North Road just south of the new high school, said he's been giving officials an earful for years.
“Nobody seems to be concerned about it,” he said. “I guess the change will happen when someone gets hurt.”
County engineers are fast-tracking upgrades along North Road because of a request from the County Council and Executive Aaron Reardon to improve safety along the road sooner rather than later, officials say.
That $15.2 million project will reconfigure 1.78 miles of North Road as a three-lane road with sidewalks, bike lanes and planter strips on both sides.
Work is expected to start in 2012.
County Councilman Dave Gossett, whose district includes North Road, said that for years, improvements along the road were expected to happen after 2025 — and then only if money became available.
Gossett said he pushed to get the improvements done sooner for three reasons.
“First, the neighbors were concerned about the road,” he said. “Second, the high school was going in and I thought it was important to have a date certain as opposed to a date someday.”
Finally, he said, the council also realized that with 164th Street SW maxed out with traffic, the impact to nearby roads had to be considered more closely.
He's heard plenty of cars run off the pavement over the year and a half he's lived at the sharp curve on North Road.
Saturday was different.
“There was no screeching or anything,” said Melander, 66. “It just went ‘wump,' and it was over.”
A car with four young men driving home from a party struck a tree in front of Melander's rented home. Police believe the 1993 Volkswagen Corrado was going about 70 mph to 80 mph when it slid off the road. The speed limit leading into the curve is 35 mph.
Killed were driver Brandon Norton, 21, who was the designated driver, and passenger Ehlo Blacknall, 20. Seriously injured were Trevor Moore, 21 and Tyler Gilbert, 20. Moore is on life support at Harborview Medical Center.
People who live along North Road, which connects Filbert Road, or Highway 524, to 164th Street SW, say the accident only heightens safety concerns they've raised for years.
Saturday's fatal crash happened only yards away from a memorial to three other young people who lost their lives in a wreck there about a dozen years ago.
There have been 31 motor vehicle accidents reported along North Road since April 2002, according to Snohomish County Fire District 1. Of those, 16 were injury accidents and two involved pedestrians.
Collision studies rate the road as one of the safer ones among the 620 road segments studied countywide.
Neighbors worry about the frequency of cars going into the ditch. And now that the new Lynnwood High School is just up the road, some worry about the safety of students who walk along the road. There are no sidewalks. There is a shoulder only on the west side of the road.
Marv Nicholson, who lives along North Road just south of the new high school, said he's been giving officials an earful for years.
“Nobody seems to be concerned about it,” he said. “I guess the change will happen when someone gets hurt.”
County engineers are fast-tracking upgrades along North Road because of a request from the County Council and Executive Aaron Reardon to improve safety along the road sooner rather than later, officials say.
That $15.2 million project will reconfigure 1.78 miles of North Road as a three-lane road with sidewalks, bike lanes and planter strips on both sides.
Work is expected to start in 2012.
County Councilman Dave Gossett, whose district includes North Road, said that for years, improvements along the road were expected to happen after 2025 — and then only if money became available.
Gossett said he pushed to get the improvements done sooner for three reasons.
“First, the neighbors were concerned about the road,” he said. “Second, the high school was going in and I thought it was important to have a date certain as opposed to a date someday.”
Finally, he said, the council also realized that with 164th Street SW maxed out with traffic, the impact to nearby roads had to be considered more closely.
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