MONROE — Gloria Wolter choked up as she held the white cross along the roadside of U.S. 2.
She was standing at the site Wednesday where her son, Bruce Ramsey, a lieutenant at the Monroe Correctional Complex, died in a crash more than a year ago. She and her family were hoping to send a message to lawmakers who were driving by on a bus looking at the problems with the too-often deadly road.
Wolter and her family weren’t alone.
Dozens of people spread out along the highway carrying white crosses — and, in some cases, thank you signs where the state has spent money to improve the road’s safety. Most of the people gathered along U.S. 2 were firefighters and paramedics who respond to accidents.
They clustered in small groups from east Monroe all the way to Index. The demonstration was organized by the U.S. 2 Safety Coalition. They hope to convince lawmakers from the state Legislature’s Joint Transportation Committee to find funding for the construction of the Monroe bypass.
“This is not a protest. It is a demonstration by the people who respond to these accidents,” coalition Chairman Fred Walser said. “It’s also an opportunity to thank legislators who appropriate money to make safety improvements in the highway.”
Wolter, who lives in Sultan, joined the coalition after her son’s death in February 2010 in an accident just outside of Sultan at the intersection of U.S. 2 and Rice Road while he was riding his motorcycle.
“We need a bypass. We need our communities to be safe,” Wolter said. “We can’t do that with fatalities on (U.S.) 2. So many of our injuries and deaths are senseless crashes.”
The coalition organized the demonstration when it found out the joint committee was going through the area on a two-day trip to different cities to talk about transportation projects. They also stopped in Shoreline, Monroe and Stevens Pass. The people stood along the highway where fatal accidents have occurred, Walser said.
“It should make a stark impact that (U.S.) 2 is a very dangerous road,” Walser said.
Since 1999, about five dozen people have died in crashes along U.S. 2 between Everett and Stevens Pass, state records show.
The most recent was 34-year old Rocky Ottow, who was killed in a head-on collision just east of Highway 9 this past weekend. Six others were injured in the accident as well.
By funding the bypass, which is still in the design phase, lives could be saved, Walser said.
Firefighters and paramedics from Monroe Fire District 3, Sultan Fire District 5, and Gold Bar Fire District 26 participated in the demonstration.
The coalition also hosted a lunch in Monroe for the committee where they gave a presentation about the bypass.
After lunch, the bus slowed down every time there were people with crosses and signs lined up along the road.
When the bus arrived where Wolter stood, it parked at the gas station for a couple of minutes.
Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Committee, was among the lawmakers who stepped out of the bus to talk with Wolter and her family.
Haugen said that even though there is not enough funding for the bypass, the committee could find money for smaller projects to help make the highway safer.
“It’s long overdue. Too bad it takes a tragedy to make a change,” Haugen said.
Alejandro Dominguez: 425-339-3422; adominguez@heraldnet.com.
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