What’s next for deadly stretch of Highway 395 near Pasco after 5 deaths this year?

The Tri-Cities community was still reeling from the loss of a mother and daughter killed in a wreck near Country Mercantile, when a second deadly crash happened just days later a few miles south at another intersection on the highway. That wreck claimed the life of a 23-year-old.

Preliminary crash reports show at least 11 people have died on Franklin County roads this year, setting a grim record. Only 2017 had as many fatal crashes in the past decade, but fewer people died in them.

Department of Transportation figures show there have been nine fatal wrecks in Franklin County, including three that happened in the past two weeks.

Two of the collisions this year were at the Highway 395 intersection with Crestloch Road, right next to Country Mercantile. Making it the most deadly intersection this year.

After the most recent fatal crash, Washington State Department of Transportation officials told the Tri-City Herald they will look at that intersection five miles north of Pasco to see if any changes would make it safer.

In recent years, the state has worked on five intersections that cut across the busy north-south highway. Crews added merging lanes and deceleration lanes on each side, said Regional Traffic Engineer Todd Daley.

They also are looking at potentially installing flashing lights to warn approaching highway drivers that someone is at the rural county side road. And signs to warn drivers to be cautious about the highway traffic as they approach on the county roads.

Initial investigations by the Washington State Patrol into last week’s crashes, showed the drivers trying to cross or merge onto the highway at those intersections failed to yield to oncoming trucks heading north.

“The biggest concern is that drivers either do not see the approaching traffic on mainline or they misjudge the time and speed in which they are approaching the intersection,” Daley told the Herald.

“We’re seeing higher fatality rates than expected,” Daley said. “It’s a little bit of a mystery why we’re seeing the fatalities.”

There are other, more drastic, options the state could take, such as installing a frontage road, graded exits or a roundabout, but those would be costly, and would compete for priority with other areas in the state for funding.

While the state is investigating a possible solution, it’s clear from dozens of social media comments that people feel strongly that something needs to be fixed.

“How many... at what price does the county decide to take action. How many more have to die before something is done?” said a comment on a Franklin County Sheriff’s Office post.

Some suggested adding flashing lights, frontage roads or slower speed limits as ways to make that stretch safer.

The crashes also have raised concerns from Franklin County officials, who are looking into how they can deal with what they feel is a growing problem on county roads, said County Administrator Mike Gonzalez.

Fatal Franklin crashes

With three traffic deaths in the past week, 2023 is shaping up to be one of the most deadly years on Franklin County roads in 10 years.

The last time Franklin County had nine fatal wrecks was in 2017, according to Department of Transportation statistics. The Washington Traffic Safety Commission shows 10 died in Franklin County wrecks that year.

The highway sees 9,000 to 22,000 vehicles a day on average between Ritzville and Karchner street in Pasco. That’s far less than the estimated 66,000 vehicles that travel daily on the highway across the blue bridge from Pasco into Kennewick.

But that stretch of Highway 395 has seen about a quarter of the killer crashes in the past 10 years. The Department of Transportation shows that 17 of the 68 fatal wrecks have happened along the stretch of the road.

That puts it ahead of Interstate 182, which had 14 in the same period, making it the deadliest road in Franklin County.

The Department of Transportation does not track the number of deaths, only the number of crashes. The Traffic Safety Commission tracks the number of traffic-related deaths.

Crestloch and 395

Two of the crashes in 2023 claimed four lives at the same intersection, each while the drivers were trying to go across the northbound lanes.

The first happened on June 27 when Jeffry L. Bowers, 73, made a left turn toward Country Mercantile in his pickup pulling a trailer. The Washington State Patrol said he pulled into the path of a Dodge Ram truck that was also puling a trailer.

Bowes’ wife, Debora, 66, died at the scene. He later died at Kadlec Regional Medical Center.

Then on Sunday, Oct. 15, Angel Hart and her daughter Aspen Hart were finishing a day of fall activities when Angel, 50, pulled her car onto the highway in front of a Dodge Ram truck. The mother and daughter were killed in the crash.

On a map, the intersection of Crestloch Road and Highway 395 is not unique for Franklin County.

On one side of the highway, Crestloch Road is primarily known as leading to Country Mercantile, it also serves other farms and businesses in the area.

Selph Landing Road, one of the busiest of the county roads, enters the highway on the east side.

The four-lane highway is designed so drivers can cross the first two lanes of the divided highway and pause in a wide median before crossing the other two lanes.

The design is similar to several other roads that cross the highway, and they all received similar upgrades a few years ago.

But this year’s crashes have made people wonder what makes this intersection different.

It’s up to state officials to determine what can and should be done to make the intersection safer. At the moment, Daley is waiting to see the Washington State Patrol report on the Hart’s crash for more details.

The state takes a “safe systems approach” that is supported by the U.S. Department of Transportation. It calls for designing highways around the idea that people make mistakes,

The approach aims to bring government, drivers and corporations together to make the roads and vehicles safer, encourage people to behave safely and look at how to improve the response after a crash.

Anytime when there appears to be a pattern of crashes, it catches the state’s attention, he said. At this point, there hasn’t been any determination whether changing the intersection would make it safer.

“It’s definitely too early to tell,” he said. “We do look at total crash data to see if there are patterns. ... Often the difference between a fender bender and a serious injury crash is milliseconds.”

A part of the examination is looking to determine if the people involved in the crashes fell asleep, were distracted or their vehicle malfunctioned.

“The grand ideal would be to put in an interchange, but there are a lot of places in Washington state that stand in need of interchanges more than 395 and Crestloch,” he said.