MONROE — A new series of U.S. 2 safety projects selected by residents and state officials aims to improve parts of the deadly highway, but won’t address its biggest safety problems.
Backers for U.S. 2 safety improvements decided how to spend $10 million in state money, approving a list of projects recommended by the state Department of Transportation.
“You can’t address the whole corridor” with $10 million, said Mark Leth, regional traffic engineer for the transportation department. “It’s better to look at spot improvements.”
Two key projects on the list approved Monday are to extend a two-way left-turn lane in Sultan and a similar lane in Gold Bar. The work is expected to cost $3 million in Sultan and $4.5 million in Gold Bar. Both of those areas have been the scene of fatalities and other accidents over the last nine years, Leth said.
Construction for the two projects could start next year, Leth said.
Other projects could begin sooner. They include improving four intersections along U.S. 2: Sofie Road, 153rd Place SE, Fern Bluff Road and Sultan-Startup Road. Seven accidents that ended in deaths or disability have happened near Sofie Road and 153rd Place SE. Four similar wrecks have occurred at Fern Bluff Road, and six near Sultan-Startup Road.
Joe Beavers of Gold Bar said he’s pleased the new projects match what residents want.
State officials “did such a thorough study about public comments,” Beavers said. “Plus, they showed stuff I didn’t see before.”
The $10 million that the state Legislature set aside this year constitutes less than 1 percent of the estimated $2 billion needed for overall improvements of U.S. 2.
And the projects approved Monday won’t tackle the most dangerous parts of the highway.
A total of 157 accidents have ended in deaths or disabling injuries along U.S. 2 between Everett and Stevens Pass from 1999 to 2007, according to the transportation department.
Monroe’s three-mile stretch of highway has seen the highest concentration of fatal and disabling-injury accidents. There have been 29 serious-injury accidents along that section of highway since 1999, including at least five deaths, records show.
Improving the highway in Monroe will be costly. State engineers recommend building a bypass around the city at an estimated cost of up to $210 million. A state study of the highway identifies 56 projects necessary for improving safety.
Since 1999, 48 people have been killed in crashes and accidents along the highway between Snohomish and Stevens Pass, according to state data. A third of those fatalities occurred in crossover crashes.
“The whole motivation for the U.S. 2 Safety Coalition is that people have been killed,” Monroe Mayor Donnetta Walser said. She leads the grass-roots group of local residents and officials with her husband, Fred Walser.
The highway’s safety problems have attracted attention from state leaders, including Gov. Chris Gregoire, who toured the highway and vowed improvements.
U.S. 2 was designated as a safety corridor in March, making federal money available for education, engineering and enforcement efforts for the highway.
State transportation officials said that installing centerline rumble strips east of Monroe toward Stevens Pass should help reduce the number of crossover crashes. Construction for the $4 million project is expected to start early next month.
The transportation department originally proposed using part of the $10 million to build a mile-long passing lane near Sultan. The proposal drew strong criticism from residents after they learned that no one had been killed along that particular stretch of the highway.
That idea was dropped.
“There were other suggestions we got” from residents, said Lorena Eng, a regional administrator of the transportation department.
That new safety projects are happening on U.S. 2 is good, said Fred Walser, chairman of the safety coalition. But the group has a long way to go to make the highway safe. The group’s top priority is securing the hundreds of millions of dollars needed for a Monroe bypass.
“We are not done yet. We are after more money,” Walser said.
Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.
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