Regarding the Friday article, “Charge-up stations planned on U.S. 2”:
After living in Gold Bar and doing battle on the highway for the past 20 years, I feel that I am somewhat of an expert on the road’
s condition. Does anyone in Olympia realize that U.S. 2 is considered the deadliest highway in the state, and is probably somewhere in the top 20 in America?
Due to the recent urbanization of the upper valley, the highway is already well beyond its capacity to handle any more traffic. Does the name “highway of death” ring a bell with anyone out there? Scores of people have been killed on this highway over the years, and yet nothing significant has been done to make the road safer for large volumes of traffic.
Now we are going to add all of the West Coast yuppies in their “electric kiddy cars” to the already volatile mix of weekend road warriors and kamikaze snowboarders that use the two-lane road. I’ll bet Fred Walser and the U.S. 2 safety coalition are doing hand springs over this new decision. Why not use the money to help make the highway four lanes like we’ve been begging the state to do for years?
I suppose it’s because this project is what the money was “earmarked” for. More about earmarking in a future letter. Common sense dictates that I-90 would be a much better place for these electric charging stations, but there seems to be little of that in Olympia these days, so I guess we of the upper valley can just add another half-hour to our commute and have more vehicles to join in our daily game of dodge cars.
Remember, electricity is not a renewable resource either, once the water has gone over the dam, it’s gone for good, just like our way of life up here.
Jim Daniel
Gold Bar
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