Two employees of the Snoqualmie Casino in Washington state died as they drove to work on SR 18 last month. The CEO of the casino, Brian Decorah, has offered to pay the state highway department $1 million if it will immediately begin work to make the road, which is recognized as hazardous, a little safer.
The casino sent out a statement saying the funds would go to make an assessment of the design and construction of a safer highway between Issaquah-Hobart Road and I-90 by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT.)
Casino employees Maria Wong and Jasmine Lao, a mother and daughter, died October 12 when their car was hit head on when a driver crossed the center line. They were driving to work.
The stretch of road reportedly has seen 25 serious or fatal crashes since 2010, and 10 fatalities in the last ten months. WSDOT said there would be funding available for the assessment sometime in 2019. Decorah hopes to cut through that delay with the $1 million contribution.
“We have 450 team members that travel this stretch of road, every day. Each day without action is another day that we wait to hear news of another tragedy. We don’t want to wait. We want action, for Maria, Jasmine, and everyone that has lost a loved one on this road,” he said in a statement.
