Local effort paying off in making U.S. 2 safer

Gov. Chris Gregoire’s announcement Monday that long-neglected U.S. 2 is being designated a safety corridor was a welcome step in the right direction. The governor deserves credit for focusing attention on the deadly highway, and for sending the message to area lawmakers that it’s time to stop blaming each other for the lack of progress to date and start working together on solutions.

But a special round of applause goes to the U.S. 2 Safety Coalition, whose well-organized and persistent effort is paying off.

The grassroots group, led by former Sultan Police Chief Fred Walser, has worked aggressively to put U.S. 2 on state leaders’ radar. Its efforts helped get a state safety study funded, one that will provide a road map for future investments. The safety-corridor designation should help draw federal dollars and sharpen Olympia’s focus on the highway.

The coalition also pushed successfully to get two crucial projects included in Proposition 1, the roads and transit measure voters will weight in on this fall: completion of the widening of Highway 522 between Maltby and the Snohomish River Bridge, which will improve safety and help ease congestion on a major U.S. 2 feeder route; and a U.S. 2 bypass around Monroe, one of its worst choke points and danger zones.

And, the coalition was largely responsible for grabbing the governor’s attention, and that of lawmakers in charge of transportation funding.

Immediate plans for safety improvements are already being enhanced, with the addition of wider rumble strips in particularly deadly stretches and striping that’s more visible in the dark. Any such upgrades are welcome on a highway that has claimed 45 lives in the past eight years.

Improvements can’t come quickly enough, but the reality is that what’s needed will take years of planning, funding and building — along with a continued local commitment to press the issue. But where progress was nowhere in sight just a couple of years ago, real solutions that can actually save lives are at hand.

Local efforts really can make a difference.

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