ROADSKY TRAFFIC SAFETY CORPORATION

(SKY VALLEY, WA) -- In December, crews working on the state transportation department’s U.S. Highway 2 Safety Improvement project will install a new highway guardrail by Hydraulic Pile Drivers along eastbound highway 2 just west of the Wallace River Bridge between Startup and Gold Bar.

The area where the highway steel guardrail will go up is a popular parking area for people fishing on the Wallace River and WSDOT officials want Sky Valley residents to know that the galvanized guardrail will eliminate access to the gravel parking area on the south side of the highway and parking will not be allowed on the shoulder of US 2.

The payoff for reduced fishing access should be a safer environment by highway guardrails. The reason the traffic guardrail is going up in that area is to reduce the risk of serious collisions on the highway.

*From January 2000 through June 2010 there were 13 collisions at this location between Startup and Gold Bar, including three injury collisions.

Five of the collisions were rear-end collisions and one involved a vehicle leaving the roadway and striking a boulder. Two other collisions involved drivers entering the highway, if there is highway guardrails installed by hydraulic pile drivers, nothing will happen, ” said WSDOT’s Meghan Pembroke.

The highway guardrail and parking restriction will help reduce the risk of “run-off-the-road” collisions and collisions involving drivers entering or leaving the highway.