Last Monday morning dozens of people were skirting around road-closed signs on the Old Snohomish Monroe Road.
The county closed the road the night before because floodwaters from the Pilchuck River were rushing over the low spot just outside the city of Snohomish.
It’s a location that floods when there’s minor flooding in the county. Closing the road forces residents to take an hour-long drive through Monroe, a brutally long detour that’s hard to swallow when your house is just across the river.
By midmorning Monday, the water had receded, but the “road closed” signs were still in place.
According to some, the road was dry. Others say water was still on the road.
Either way, a Snohomish Police Department officer was handing out tickets to those who drove the closed road.
One driver was Alissa Harper.
Harper’s mother got fired up when her daughter was told that 20 people had been ticketed in an hour. She wonders why warnings weren’t issued when it was clear that the flooding was over.
“The roads were bare and clear,” said Randi Harper.
She wanted to know why tickets weren’t given out on Sunday, when cars were crossing through flowing water.
Snohomish Police Department didn’t immediately return a call, but Snohomish County officials defended issuing the tickets.
“They may have seen the water off of one lane, but there was still water on the road,” said Roy Scalf, an operations manager for the county’s road maintenance division. “Once the water got down far enough, the next step was to clean up the mud and debris.”
Scalf said even a bare road can be dangerous because the floodwaters could have made it unsafe by washing out the bed below the roadway.
The road was reopened at 12:15 p.m. on Monday – after it was inspected and cleaned, he said.
“We’ve all see on the news where people have driven through water and have stalled out and had to be rescued,” he said. “Unfortunately it’s one of the inconveniences of having a road through a flood plain.”
Construction speed limit
Question:
I would think that a lower speed would be safer for the workers and drivers especially at night when it is raining.
Ed Titch, Marysville
Answer: We considered lowering the speed limit on I-5 through the construction zone in Everett.
Together with the Washington State Patrol, we took a long, hard look at the issue, and we determined that a lower speed limit would not substantially improve safety in the work zone.
Even with an increase in WSP enforcement, it is difficult to change driver behavior, especially when there is no obvious reason to reduce speed during free-flowing traffic. Based on past experience, we believe that lowering the speed limit would create a situation where too many cars would be driving at dramatically different speeds, creating an even greater safety danger.
Ryan Bianchi, a Department of Transportation spokesman
Have a question about traffic or street rules around Snohomish and Island counties? We can help find an answer. E-mail Street Smarts at stsmarts@ heraldnet.com.
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