SPOKANE — U.S. Highway 395 through Washington state has been renamed for former U.S. House Speaker Tom Foley.
The 275-mile section between the Canadian and Oregon borders on Monday were renamed the Thomas S. “Tom” Foley Memorial Highway.
Foley secured much of the funding for the eastern Washington highway during his 30 years in Congress.
State legislators agreed to rename the road earlier this year, to honor Foley’s work in securing the money to turn 395 between Ritzville and the Tri-Cities into a four-lane, concrete highway. Congress allocated $54.5 million to widen the road as part of a 1991 highway bill. The National Highway System chipped in another $10.4 million and the state paid $17.9 million.
Before the expansion, that section of highway was considered one of the state’s most dangerous roads.
