(STORY IMAGE:KHQ.COM)
SPOKANE, Wash. -In 2015, when two WSU students were killed, a push started to add passing lanes on the roadway "We've seen some unfortunate deaths in the last number of years of students traveling back to school, so our state needs to step up and do more," said state Senator Michael Baumgartner.
In a five-year traffic study done by the Washington Department of Transportation showed that in the five-year span between 2005 and 2009, there were 800 crashes on highway 195, and 16 of those crashes were deadly.
Dana Hill lives just off of 195 and has a son who attends WSU. She knows firsthand how dangerous 195 can be. Hill believes that these lanes are much needed " We are really glad that they are doing something, but we would like to see more at our local level," said Dana.
But she still thinks drivers need to be paying attention and not taking dangerous risks when passing "the traffic on 195 is so bad especially heading down to Pullman for the Washington State Football games, activities all the students that go down there. It's dangerous," Hill added.
Aside from making the road safer, lawmakers say the extra lanes will actually speed up the drive by about 15 minutes on days with heavy traffic.