Improvements to State Route 26 will make travels safer for students, at least in the far future.

The Washington State Department of Transportation held an online forum Tuesday evening to address possible improvements to US 195 and state Route 26 following the recent collision fatalities over the past school year.

Interim President Dan Bernardo said he attended multiple student memorials over the past year, and he wants to improve student highway safety.

“We need to do everything we can to ensure that we don’t have to attend another one of those,” Bernardo said.

Nearly 50 percent of SR 26 crashes that occurred from 2011-2015 involved drivers between the ages of 15 and 25, said Glenn Wagemann, WSDOT Eastern Region traffic engineer.

An improvement to SR 26 has been planned, but construction won’t start for another nine years.

Bob Hilmes, WSDOT project engineer, said WSDOT has plans to add climbing lanes that will function as passing lanes along a ten mile segment of SR 26 between Dusty and Colfax. The design will be finalized in 2020, and construction will begin in 2025.

State Senator Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, said it is important to improve the roadways because WSU is an important economic provider for the state.

“The more we connect our universities to the rest of the state, the better return on investment we’ll get from our universities,” Baumgartner said.

The leading causes of most accidents along US 195 and SR 26 are speeding, tailgating, passing, drugs and alcohol. The most prominent cause is distracted driving, which caused the last two collisions along those highways, said Sergeant Courtney Shawley, WA State Patrol.

“The last two fatality collisions we have had on State Route 195 in Whitman County, distracted driving with a cell phone—texting was the cause,” Shawley said.

During the forum, Bernardo and Melinda Huskey, vice president for student affairs, addressed possible ways to increase student awareness of driving safety.

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Bernardo suggested a collaborative project between WSDOT and WSU to create highway signage with safety alerts to drivers. He said this would be more effective than university-led driving safety courses.

Huskey said the university will research the best way to inform students.

“I know we can produce some really innovative things that can work,” Huskey said.

The online forum board received many questions about rumble strips. They are cost effective, and while there are center lane rumble strips along US 195 and SR 26, WSDOT will further investigate the possibility of installing outside lane rumble strips, said Mike Trucci, acting WSDOT Eastern Region administrator.