Concerns continue over Mattawa highway

Residents come out to hear from state

MATTAWA — Area residents want to stop the number of serious crashes on their roadways, and came out in droves Wednesday to find out what can be done.

Seven people have died in traffic accidents on Highway 243 near Mattawa since May, and more than 50 people gathered at Saddle Mountain Intermediate School Wednesday to discuss a solution to the problem with state officials.

This was the second meeting that brought representatives from the Washington State Patrol, Washington State Department of Transportation and Washington Traffic Safety Commission to the Mattawa area. A similar meeting was held in Desert Aire last week.

WSP Capt. Bill Larson told the crowd that state officials want to take a holistic view of the problem, and address it in a number of different areas. He said the problem is a complex one, and needs to be solved through partnerships with both state officials and community leaders in the Mattawa area.

"We've learned that we cannot achieve our public safety goals, we cannot do that alone," Larson said.

By working on traffic enforcement, engineering and awareness on the highway, WSDOT traffic engineer Jennene Ring said the process the community was getting involved in has become similar to those taken for highway safety corridor projects throughout the state.

The corridor process was taken on nearby Highway 17 and 26, but has not yet been adopted on Highway 243.

WSDOT has installed larger stop signs and intersection notification signs along intersections of Highway 243 around Mattawa, and Ring asked for comments to help find other possible fixes.

Some in the audience had questions about solutions like increased shoulder widths, and the possibility of bringing a third traffic lane to the area. WSDOT also collected written questions and comments from drivers, and will present possible solutions from those comments at a follow up meeting next month.

Wednesday's meeting was put on by the Mattawa Area Multicultural Chamber of Commerce, and included a presentation from the WSP Hispanic outreach program, El Protector. Chamber President Manuel Ornelas said he believes that one solution is through the El Protector Program and he would like to see the program come to the Mattawa area.

"We'd like to see something like that," Ornelas said.

The program is designed as an educational outreach to the Hispanic community. Trooper Oscar Garcia currently works with the program in the Tri-cities area, and came to the meeting Wednesday to show how his efforts in speaking to the Hispanic community have been successful there.

Greg Morehouse from the WSDOT office in Wenatchee presented data at the meeting about accidents from 1999 to 2004, and said the number one type of collision in the area was that of an overturned vehicle, and the most common cause of those collisions was determined to be speed. Inattention and driving under the influence also proved to cause such accidents.

Morehouse had compiled accident statistics for the five-year period, a period where he said Highway 243 was comparable to similar routes throughout north central Washington. Highway 243 saw more overturned vehicle and from same direction collisions, but was dramatically lower in crashes with fixed objects than other north central Washington roadways.

The largest increase in incidents on Highway 243 however, has occurred since the analyzed window, and WSP Sgt. Tom Hickman told the audience that of the 12 crashes in the Mattawa and Desert Aire areas since May, 11 have involved local residents.

"It's not a problem involving people coming in and out of the area," he said, "it's a local problem."

Hickman said the WSP is dedicating enforcement time along the highway, but acknowledged that the 15-trooper Moses Lake detachment serves all of Grant County and part of Adams County as well.

"With the staffing we've got," Hickman said, "we get down here as much as we can."

WSP officers are trying to inform drivers, and Hickman acknowledged after the meeting that by attending meetings like the one Wednesday, that it does get the word out about being careful on the roadway.

State officials will again be in Mattawa next month, and will respond to those written questions and concerns to help move the process further along. The meeting will be again in the school's gym at 5 p.m. Oct. 19.