U.S. 2 safety projects would cost $1.84 billion

Published 11:10 pm Sunday, November 18, 2007

Overall improvements on dangerous, congested U.S. 2 would cost up to $1.84 billion and take more than 20 years to complete, according to a new safety study released last week.

The long-awaited study outlines 56 projects — expected to be done by 2030 — including expanding the highway from two to four lanes in segments. The study calls for replacing traffic signals on the highway with roundabouts to improve traffic flow, a proposal that draws criticism from local officials.

The price tag for the projects shows that the highway has been neglected for decades, supporters of U.S. 2 improvements said. Since 1993, the state has invested only $36 million in improving the highway on which people in the Skykomish Valley have lost families, friends and neighbors.

“$1.84 billion sounds really expensive,” said Rep. Kirk Pearson, R-Monroe.

Cities along U.S. 2 — Snohomish, Monroe, Sultan, Gold Bar, Index and Skykomish — are set to receive copies of the study this week.

The state Department of Transportation spent 18 months on the $1.3 million study, which looked at the highway’s problems between Snohomish and Skykomish.

Over the past eight years, 45 people have died in crashes and accidents on U.S. 2 between Snohomish and Stevens Pass, according to the transportation department. Of those fatalities, 15 occurred in crossover crashes.

All the projects in the study are expected to cost between $1.23 billion and $1.84 billion. Key projects include widening U.S. 2 from two to four lanes and adding a median barrier between Snohomish and west of Monroe, building a bypass around Monroe, and expanding the road from two to four lanes between east of Monroe and Gold Bar.

Expanding the highway between Snohomish and west of Monroe alone could cost more than $324 million, the study says.

The highway between Snohomish and Skykomish also has 40 bridges and similar structures that are nearing their lifespan of 75 years and need improvements, the study shows.

“I have no idea what the total cost would be. I know the cost is rising rapidly,” said Fred Walser, chairman of the U.S. 2 Safety Coalition. The group is made up of local residents, business people and officials who aim to make their highway safer.

Securing money for the highway will be challenging, Walser said.

“I’m not sure that new taxes or whatever would be acceptable to voters,” Walser said.

A $17.8 billion road and light-rail tax package failed in the Nov. 6 election. The package would’ve paid for transportation projects in Snohomish, King and Pierce counties, including a portion of the U.S. 2 bypass around Monroe.

Some voters in Monroe said that the humongous package overwhelmed them.

“It’s going to change our strategy,” Walser said. “We are still committed to doing something about U.S. 2 to improve its capacity and safety.”

So far, only one project proposed in the study has money.

Gov. Chris Gregoire announced in October that about $3.6 million — including $1.5 million from Snohomish County — will be spent next year to install centerline rumble strips on the highway between east of Monroe and Stevens Pass. The divots alert drivers when they stray into the oncoming traffic.

The governor also said that the highway is being designated as a safety corridor, making it easier to land federal money to improve safety on the highway.

The state created the study after holding a series of public meetings to reflect people’s ideas. Still, the study doesn’t make everyone happy.

The state wants to build eight roundabouts to improve traffic flow on U.S. 2: four in Sultan, three in Gold Bar and one in Skykomish.

Roundabouts would replace traffic signals in Sultan.

“Our City Council has been very vocal not to support a roundabout option,” Sultan Mayor Ben Tolson said.

Roundabouts don’t let pedestrians safely cross the highway, Tolson said.

Gold Bar Mayor Crystal Hill is wondering how roundabouts would affect access to local businesses along the highway.

“Overall, we are supportive, but with some reservations,” Hill said.

Meanwhile, traffic continues to grow on U.S. 2.

For example, 27,507 vehicles used the highway between Snohomish and Monroe daily on weekdays in 2006, the study shows. The number is forecast to jump to 49,404 by 2030. That’s a 79 percent increase.

Nonetheless, the study’s completion is a step forward, Monroe Mayor Donnetta Walser said.

The transportation department first said that the study would come out in spring this year. It pushed back its release to summer, and then to fall.

The delays made Walser wonder when the study would be complete.

“This is one of the things that frustrates me with transportation issues in general,” she said.

Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.

By the numbers

$1.23 billion to $1.84 billion: The cost for overall improvements on U.S. 2.

$1.3 million: The price tag for a new U.S. 2 safety study that came out last week.

56: The number of improvement projects proposed in the study to improve U.S. 2.

1: Only one out of the 56 projects has money.

45: The number of people who have died in crashes and accidents on the highway since 1999.

$36 million: The amount of money that the state has invested since 1993 to improve the highway between Snohomish and Skykomish.

$0: The amount of money U.S. 2 received from the state’s 9.5-cent gas tax increase approved in 2005.

Source: Washington State Department of Transportation

U.S. 2 timeline

Late 1990s: A series of fatal crashes on U.S. 2 prompted people in the Skykomish Valley to form the U.S. 2 Safety Coalition, a grass-roots group that aims to make the highway safer.

Summer 2003: Fred and Donnetta Walser, who lead the coalition, flew to Washington, D.C., to get federal money for U.S. 2. Later, $500,000 was secured for a safety study on the highway.

2004-2006: The coalition won $100,000 from the Puget Sound Regional Council for the study.

2006: The state Legislature allocated $700,000 for the study.

September 2007: Gov. Chris Gregoire toured the highway and met with the coalition.

October 2007: Gregoire announced that U.S. 2 is being designated as a safety corridor, making it easier to land federal money to improve safety on the highway.

Nov. 6, 2007: Voters in Snohomish, King and Pierce counties rejected a $17.8 billion road and light-rail tax package that would have paid for a portion of U.S. 2 bypass around Monroe.

November 2007: The state released the $1.3 million safety study.

2008: About $3.6 million will be spent to install centerline rumble strips — divots that alert drivers when they stray into the oncoming traffic — on the highway between east of Monroe and Stevens Pass.