State lawmakers are expected to set aside $5 million this year to add a passing lane to U.S. 2 west of Sultan in hopes of preventing additional deaths on the dangerous, congested highway.
The money has been secured in a transportation spending bill, which is set to be introduced to the House in Olympia today, lawmakers said Tuesday.
“It’s great. I think U.S. 2 has been ignored for too long,” said Rep. Liz Loomis, D-Snohomish, who sits on the House Transportation Committee.
The money would be used to widen a mile of the highway from two to three lanes west of Sultan. That would give drivers more room to escape crashes on U.S. 2, a two-lane road notorious for crossover crashes. Westbound drivers would use the new lane to pass vehicles, improving traffic flow.
“That’s one of the high-crash areas,” said former Sultan Police Chief Fred Walser, who leads the efforts to make the highway safer.
The Legislature will likely approve the money for the project, said Rep. Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, who wrote the transportation spending bill as chairwoman of the House Transportation Committee.
Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Committee, is also expected to include the money in the bill’s Senate version, Clibborn said.
Gov. Chris Gregoire, who toured the highway on Sept. 11 and vowed to fix it, supports the project.
“The governor likes it, Sen. Haugen likes it, and I got it in,” Clibborn said. “I don’t know who is going to get in the way.”
On Jan. 31, the House Transportation Committee held a hearing about U.S. 2. People who lost their loved ones in U.S. crashes gave emotional testimony.
Since 1999, 47 people have died in crashes and accidents on U.S. 2, according to state crash data. Tom Cock of Woodinville, who lost his 17-year-old son Thomas Turner — the latest crash victim on the highway — spoke at the hearing as well.
The hearing made a difference, Loomis said.
“I choked up a couple of times,” she said.
Overall improvements for the highway are expected to cost about $2 billion and include widening the road from two to four lanes in segments. State transportation officials have proposed 56 projects to improve U.S. 2.
Only one of the projects has money. The state plans to spend $3.6 million this year to grind centerline rumble strips on the highway between east of Monroe and Stevens Pass.
Supporters have a long way to go in getting U.S. 2 fixed, but the highway seems to have gained attention from key state officials, Walser said.
“We were trying to get anything for safety improvement,” he said.
Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.
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