MUKILTEO — Gov. Chris Gregoire on Monday announced that U.S. 2 is being designated as a safety corridor, making it easier to land federal money to improve safety on the dangerous, congested highway.
About $3.6 million will also be spent in 2008 to install centerline rumble strips on the highway between Monroe and Stevens Pass to prevent crossover crashes, Gregoire said. The state already planned to install divots — which will alert drivers when straying into the oncoming lane — but this is more than originally planned.
“Today, we want to take immediate steps to address a traffic safety issue that we have on U.S. 2,” Gregoire said at a press conference at Paine Field in Mukilteo.
The new designation, which formally will be made by the Washington Traffic Safety Commission, makes U.S. 2 eligible for more federal money for education, engineering and enforcement efforts on the highway.
Over the last eight years, 45 people have died in crashes and accidents on the highway between Snohomish and Stevens Pass, according to the state Department of Transportation. Of those fatalities, 15 occurred in crossover crashes.
The governor toured the highway between Everett and Sultan on Sept. 11 and listened to people who lost their loved ones in crashes on the highway. A week later, state lawmakers who are in charge of transportation projects dropped by Monroe to discuss the city’s traffic problems aggravated by lack of improvements on U.S. 2.
The U.S. 2 Safety Coalition, a grass-roots group of local residents, officials and business people, has worked to raise awareness about the highway’s problems.
“It’s been worth it,” said Fred Walser, the coalition’s chairman. “We are going to continue it.”
The group’s persistence has paid off, Gregoire said.
“This has my attention,” Gregoire said. “It has the attention of state legislators who took a similar tour.”
The Legislature this year set aside $731,000 to add centerline rumble strips between Monroe and Stevens Pass. The state recently has secured $1.4 million of federal surplus money for the project. Snohomish County has agreed to pitch in $1.5 million for the work.
“This is the first step. We recognize that,” Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon said. “We have many steps to take” to save lives on the highway.
The rumble strips will be 2 feet wide in the middle of the road between Monroe and Gold Bar, a segment that Gregoire described as the “most difficult area of all.” The strips will be 1 foot wide between Gold Bar and Stevens Pass. Crews will also use along the rumble strips a higher quality striping paint that lasts longer and is more visible at night.
Rumble strips will also be placed on the shoulder of the highway in select locations between Monroe and Skykomish.
Drivers sometimes fall asleep or are intoxicated, causing crashes on the highway, Gregoire said. The congested highway runs through the Skykomish Valley, which used to be considered rural but has been growing fast.
“It is no longer sleepy; it is no longer secret,” Gregoire said.
Washington State Patrol troopers are cracking down on drunks, speeders and aggressive drivers. At least four troopers are patrolling the highway all day. State Patrol Chief John Batiste, who was also at Paine Field, said Monday that the agency plans to use overtime money to add more troopers on the highway over the next few months. Overall improvement projects on U.S. 2 are expected to cost more than $1 billion, according to state traffic engineers. A $1.3 million safety study on the highway, expected to be out this fall, lists major projects including widening the road from two lanes to four lanes in segments. Except for the rumble strips between Monroe and Stevens Pass, none of the projects recommended in the safety study have money.
The competition for highway projects will be fierce at the 2008 Legislature, Gregoire said. Those projects are getting more expensive to complete as well.
“I don’t want to overpromise here that there is going to be a lot of funding in 2008,” she said.
A bypass around Monroe is a key project to ease traffic congestion and improve safety on U.S. 2 through the growing city of about 16,000 people, Gregoire said. A portion of the bypass worth more than $40 million is included in a list of transportation projects put together by the Regional Transportation Investment District. People in Snohomish, King and Pierce counties are set to vote on the road-and-transit package on Nov. 6.
Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.
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