[Vision2020] Trip from Moscow to Pullman to Become Life in the Four-Lane

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (January 30, 2006) Spokesman review -

 

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Trip from Moscow to Pullman to become life in the four-lane 

 

Amy Cannata

Staff writer

January 30, 2006

 

The drive between Moscow, Idaho, and Pullman is about to get an overhaul
more than a decade in the making.

 

The Washington state Department of Transportation will begin work this year
on a six-mile-long state Highway 270 project that will boost the two-lane
road to four lanes with a center turn lane and rumble strips.

 

The widening work will be done between Pullman and the Idaho border this
year and next.

 

Highway 270 is the main road connecting Pullman, home of Washington State
University, and Moscow, site of the University of Idaho. It has been the
scene of some deadly wrecks, including a 2001 collision in which three WSU
students were killed.

 

While the main goal of the widening project is to increase traffic capacity,
it will have the added benefit of improving safety, said Transportation
Department spokesman Al Gilson.

 

"The most horrific accidents come from improper passing," he said.

 

That was the case in the 2001 collision. Fred Russell, the WSU student
accused of causing that crash while driving drunk, fled to Ireland. He's now
awaiting a decision on whether he will be extradited to stand trial in
Whitman County.

 

With an additional lane in each direction, passing accidents should
decrease, Gilson said.

 

It has taken a few fits and starts to get to this point. After the state
allocated funding under its 2003 nickel gas tax increase, it quickly became
clear that there wasn't enough money to fund a proposal for a divided
four-lane highway with frontage roads.

 

The new plan without frontage roads and with the center turning lane rather
than a median fits within the state's $30 million budget.

 

Drivers will be able to use the highway while it's under construction.

 

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Suddenly that trip to and from Pullman is a bit more driver-friendly.

 

Take care, Moscow.

 

Tom Hansen

Moscow, Idaho

 

"If not us, who?
If not now, when?"

- Unknown

 

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