With the 2007 state Legislature session coming up in January, a grass-roots group is trying to raise money and awareness to make U.S. 2 safer.
The U.S. 2 Safety Coalition, a group of officials and residents, created a new bumper sticker that reads: “U.S. 2 – Fix it Now!” The sticker also lists the coalition’s Web site address, www.us2safetycoalition.org.
“It’s short, to the point,” said Sultan Police Chief Fred Walser, who leads the coalition.
The coalition spent $630 making 1,000 bumper stickers, said Loretta Storm, the coalition’s secretary. The coalition is giving them away.
“We want them out there,” Storm said.
In spring 2007, the state plans to finish a $1.3 million safety study on U.S. 2, a dangerous and congested highway. Since 1999, 43 have died in accidents on the two-lane highway between Everett and Skykomish. Of those fatalities, 14 occurred in head-on collisions.
Overall improvements on the highway would cost more than $1 billion, state transportation officials say. Improvement projects, recommended in the safety study, include building a bypass in Monroe and expanding U.S. 2 from two lanes to four lanes between Snohomish and west of Monroe and between east of Monroe and Gold Bar.
People continue to die and get injured in accidents on the highway, Walser said.
“Fixing U.S. 2 has been put off for 40 years,” he said. “We can’t wait another 10 or 20 years.”
The coalition hopes that its bumper stickers would draw more people to its Web site and make people aware of the needs to make U.S. 2 safer, Storm said.
During the 2006 state Legislature, the safety coalition struggled to lock in $700,000 for the safety study. For the 2007 session, the group wants to hire a lobbyist to advance its cause, Walser said.
It would cost about $25,000 to hire a lobbyist, Walser said. The coalition has raised about $2,000 from businesses and residents in the Skykomish Valley.
Communities along U.S. 2 keep growing, bringing more people onto the highway, Walser said.
“The longer you wait,” he said, “the more it will cost.”
Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.
Donations needed
The U.S. 2 Safety Coalition, a nonprofit group aimed at making the highway safer, is asking for donations.
Donations can be sent to U.S. 2 Safety Coalition, P.O. Box 1829, Sultan, WA 98294.
For more information, call Sultan Police Chief Fred Walser at 360-793-1051, ext. 223, or go to www.us2safetycoalition.org.
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