Highway 395 in Eastern Washington renamed for Tom Foley

Published 1:30 am Monday, August 27, 2018

Associated Press

SPOKANE — Highway 395 through Eastern Washington has been renamed for former U.S. House Speaker Tom Foley.

The 275-mile section between the Canadian and Oregon borders on Monday was renamed the Thomas S. “Tom” Foley Memorial Highway.

Foley, a Democrat, secured much of the funding for the highway during his 30 years in Congress.

State legislators agreed to rename the road earlier this year to honor Foley’s work in securing the money to turn 395 between Ritzville and the Tri-Cities into a four-lane, concrete highway. Congress allocated $54.5 million to widen the road as part of a 1991 highway bill. The National Highway System chipped in another $10.4 million and the state paid $17.9 million.

Before the expansion, that section of highway was considered one of the state’s most dangerous roads. Foley died in 2013.