US 2 - Median Barrier - Complete April 2021

On average, 40,000 drivers travel US 2 near the city of Snohomish every day. Snohomish County’s population has experienced a nearly 80 percent increase since 1990. Another 200,000 people are expected to move to the county by the year 2035. Safety improvements are necessary to keep the highway in good condition as the number of people using US 2 increases.

In 2019, contractor crews working for WSDOT installed a six-foot wide median to separate the eastbound and westbound lanes of this roughly two-mile stretch of US 2. The wider median is designed to reduce the risk of head-on and crossover collisions. Rumble strips added to each side of the median make a loud noise to alert drivers if they cross out of their lane of travel toward the median space. Contractor crews installed the new barrier structures in the median during a series of overnight single-lane closures. The median was completed in March 2021.