As you may have seen in Monday’s Kitsap Sun, Bremerton officials are ramping up construction work by utilizing $900,000 or so in “Transportation Benefit District” money. That’s a wonky way of saying that $20 fee you pay on your car tabs each year to the city is getting spent.
Two roads — Trenton Avenue and Marine Drive — will get some repaving (at a cost of $475,000). But many streets throughout Manette will get something called a “chip seal,” where they lay down rock and a sealant in an effort to make the roads last longer. (That work is $178,000.)
Many roads in Bremerton are concrete, which chip sealing won’t help preserve, Bremerton Public Works Director Chal Martin told me. Still, even the work in Manette is an experiment, on roads that haven’t been repaired pretty much since they were laid down in the first place.
And, let’s not forget that the Lower Wheaton Way project will get $250,000 in its ongoing reconstruction between the Manette Bridge and Lebo Boulevard.
I wanted to provide a sound-off board for what you think of the choices the city made. Were the streets selected ones you’d have picked? If not, which warrant another look? It’s important to note that the car tab fees were intended to not let roads in “fair” or “average” condition get worse, not necessarily to fix the most awful of streets. But please feel free to fire away.
