State has failed to protect the public

Over the past 10 years, the state of Washington has failed to protect the public from potential cross-over crashes and head-on collisions on U.S. 2. The Legislature has allocated $3.6 million to install rumble strips between Monroe and Stevens Pass. This is a start, but it does not go far enough to ensure the overall safety of the public.

I believe because of the severity of the problem, the state should install barriers to separate the oncoming lanes or widen the highway to four lanes. The argument that we don’t have the money to fix U.S. 2 is false because the truth is we do have the money, it is a matter of realigning priorities and putting U.S. 2 at the top of the list rather than the bottom so it does not fall through the cracks like it has for 10 years.

We owe it to the 47 victims and our citizens to make it right and begin the long road ahead to improve and expand U.S. 2 to make this stretch of highway one of the safest routes in the state, not one of the worst.

Nathan Olson

Everett