Legislation would make rural Washington roads less hazardous
Roads in Central Washington like this one could be made safer through a bill introduced by Rep. Chris Corry.
Rep. Chris Corry/courtesy photo
OLYMPIA — A bill introduced by Rep. Chris Corry, R-Yakima, aims to improve safety rural roads across Washington and reduce the fatalities from “lane departure accidents.”
House Bill 1605, introduced at the start of the 2022 legislative session, would establish a “Reducing Rural Roadway Lane Departure Safety Program” within the state’s transportation budget and allow both the state and local governments to identify stretches of road across the state where drivers drifting out of their lanes pose the greatest risk.
The program would be funded as part of the state’s biennial transportation budget, Corry said.
“Here in Yakima County, it’s a huge problem,” Corry told the Basin Business Journal. “There are a lot of undivided highways, people drive at high speed and there are a lot of accidents.”
Corry said that around 48% of all traffic collisions in 2019 were related to vehicles leaving their lane of travel.
The bill, which has nine co-sponsors in the Washington State House of Representatives, would create a program within the state’s biennial transportation budget that would fund:
The widening or modification of shoulders on rural roads;
Improved markings and paint, including making signs more visible for vehicles with lane departure correction technology;
Application of high-friction road surface treatments;
Installation of rumble strips, signs, lights, raised barriers and other safety measures;
Removal or relocation of fixed objects such a signs that pose a significant risk of serious injury or death in the event of a vehicle collision;
Repair of existing barriers that are currently damaged or don’t work.
As part of the proposal, the program would include a process by which towns, cities, counties and transportation benefit districts can identify problem areas in rural roads and apply for funding to fix or improve them.
“It allows locals to do this,” Corry added. “It’s more responsive, and it will be pretty proactive.”
The 2022 legislative session started on Jan. 10, and is set to last until early March.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.