At least 2 people killed in crash on US 2 near Monroe
MONROE, Wash. - Troopers are investigating a crash with multiple fatalities on US 2 east of Monroe.
According to the Washington State Patrol, troopers were called before 1:00 p.m. to US 2 and Sofie Road.
Trooper Rocky Oliphant said a dump truck and an SUV collided. At least two people were killed, he said.
Images from the scene showed a vehicle on fire.
"It’s such a long highway and everybody goes so fast and it’s so dangerous," said Madison Christian of Sultan. "Well, I think about my family because I have two small kids, and me and my boyfriend’s work schedules are different, so I’m always afraid something happened to them."
"We heard all the ambulances go by the first thing. My brother called me from Arizona and he’s like are you OK, and I said yes I’m with a client I’m fine," said Sarina Macke.
Both Christian and Macke are owners of the Lounge in Monroe and travel on US-2 from their homes in Sultan. The co-owners said they often have conversations about highway two needing additional lanes of traffic and barriers.
Paul Harris lives in Monroe and believes safety improvements are overdue.
"There’s a sign over here that has a little digital counter on it. How many days it’s been since the last dangerous accident," said Harris. "If we actually have to have that, that tells you how dangerous it is," said Harris.
FOX 13 News reached out to WSDOT. A spokesperson said the collision is a tragedy, and noted a project is underway to add enhancements along the US-2 corridor from Snohomish to Skykomish.
"We are committed to driving down the number of serious injuries and fatalities on our highways to zero, because one is too many. As a department, we are looking at ways to improve safety for the traveling public to the extent that we can," said Bart Treece, WSDOT spokesperson.
US 2 reopened around 8 p.m. The crash is under investigation, and the driver of the dump truck is expected to survive, according to Trooper Oliphant.
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