Road Warrior

The in basket: John Veatch of Bremerton writes, “Whoever is behind (Kitsap)  County’s installation of blinking left turn lights in Silverdale needs to be congratulated for an intelligent idea and awesome traffic management.  

“Is there any chance that the same improvements will be done by the City of Bremerton along Wheaton Way at the Riddell Road, Sylvan Way, and Sheridan Road intersections?” he asked.

“When you are southbound on Wheaton Way and in the left turn lane for Sylvan Way, there is almost always a long gap in the northbound traffic….  There is a long period there in which southbound left turners could make a left turn if there was the system similar to that in Silverdale, but right now everybody has to just sit and waste the opportunity.”

Wally McKendry makes the same request at the John Carlson and McWilliams intersections farther north on Highway 303.

The out basket: I often get kudos for the county for its new flashing yellows, now that drivers are getting used to them. They eliminate a lot of waiting to make a left turn, saving gas and reducing pollution as a byproduct. They  are mostly in Silverdale and South Kitsap.

But I won’t hold my breath waiting for them to show up other than on signals operated by Kitsap County.  

Don Anders of  the Olympic Region signal shop that maintains most of the signals on state highways here, says their policy is that once an intersection has only protected lefts (turns only on a green arrow) they won’t go to a lesser level of control without some significant improvements in that intersection. Lesser control means more accidents, he said.

The Highway 303 lights Wally asks about are state-owned but those at at Riddell, Sylvan and Sheridan are the property of the city of Bremerton. The city, because it has a population of more than 25,000, could adopt the flashing yellows on any signal within the city , Don said. But Larry Matel of the city street engineers says yellow flashing turn lights aren’t high on their priority list. His staff has agreed to check out the county’s flashing yellow lefts informally when they are in Silverdale, he said. 

Port Orchard Public Works Director Mark Dorsey and Poulsbo Public Works Director Andrzej Kasiniak both say they’d love to introduce the flashing yellow lefts at signals they control, but don’t have the money.

Bremerton’s signal shop maintains Poulsbo’s non-state lights on a contract, and estimates that it would take about $5,000 per signal to add flashing yellow left turns, Andrzej says.

If they find the money, he would expect the Viking Way-Finn Hill and Lindvig Way-Bond Road signals to be first to get them, he said.

Mark says Port Orchard will have only three signals under its exclusive control after roundabouts replace the two westernmost signals on Tremont Avenue in the next few years. Right now, though, “our 2010 budget is non-existent,” he said.

Bob Thuring, Mason County’s engineer, says the county doesn’t own any traffic signals. All the signals in North Mason are on state highways.

As for further spread of the yellow flashing lefts in Kitsap County, its traffic engineer Jeff Shea says, “The flashing yellow turn arrow is very popular with motorists. We consider using this signal where we can, and as funds permit. 

“Safety is a prime consideration when considering where to incorporate this technology. Cost limits the number of intersections where we can install the flashing yellow arrow. Special equipment is required for the signal, both in the cabinet and on the signal face. 

“We were able to upgrade the intersections in Silverdale by using development mitigation money. As we find funding sources, we will continue to evaluate intersections where we can add this popular signal.”

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The in basket: My old reporter’s instinct kicked in the afternoon of Wednesday, March 3, when I saw a large white State Patrol SUV with four or five cars stopped in a row along Highway 304 leading into Bremerton. It’s not something you see every day and I set out to learn what was going on.

Had they been going the other way, I might have taken it for an HOV lane enforcement, but there is no HOV lane inbound. 

The out basket: Krista Hedstrom of the local WSP detachment said it was a speeding enforcement. The reason it looked like the SUV had stopped so many cars at once is probably that its trooper had help. An unmarked silver WSP sedan also was working the enforcement and it was probably one of the cars that appeared to have been stopped.  

She said the local detachment has a few such large SUV patrol vehicles, used for commercial enforcement and by troopers who are 6-foot-4 or taller.

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The in basket: I was surprised to read recently in this paper that a roundabout project in Poulsbo was “shovel-ready” and will receive a half-million dollars in federal stimulus money that would get it done this year. 

The story said the money had been granted to Kitsap County, but there was no sign of the project – at Lincoln and Noll roads and Gala Way – in the county’s six-year road plan. I asked where the roundabout came from. 

The out basket: The designation Kitsap County was generic, said Doug Bear of Kitsap County Public Works, and included cities, including Poulsbo, which has the lead on the roundabout. The county itself got $2 million for repaving roads that need it.

Andrzej Kasiniak, Poulsbo’s public works director, says the roundabout is on the city’s six-year road plan, set for three years in the future before the federal money became available. All the right of way is city owned, so work can begin this year.

It will become the first construction to accomplish what the Noll Road Corridor Study, adopted by the city in 2008, recommends.

Noll Road now meanders from Highway 305 to Lincoln Road. The corridor study calls for various improvements, the roundabout included, as money becomes available.

The most dramatic part of the plan calls for eventually rerouting Noll Road traffic to Johnson Way, the next Highway 305 intersection to the north. The rerouting is to begin at the 90-degree turn Noll makes near Bjorgen Creek. Noll from there to its existing intersection with the highway would become a lesser street.  

It’s unknown when that phase may be accomplished, but it would mean a traffic signal that otherwise would have gone in on Highway 305 at Noll will instead by put at Johnson Way.

Details of the Noll Road Corridor Study can be seen online at www.cityofpoulsbo.com/publicworks/publicworks_eng_projects.htm

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The in basket: Mary Corbin writes about the left turn signal on southbound Highway 305 in Poulsbo, that allows turns toward Central Market at Forest Rock Lane.

It used to be that after a green arrow allowed left turns, others who wanted to make the turn could do so if they stopped and waited for on-coming traffic to clear, she said. 

“Now, since the new road opposite the Central Market store (Seventh Avenue) was constructed, there has been a major change in that turn signal,” she said. “The green arrow is very short, allowing only four or five cars to turn. Then the arrow turns red, and no one is allowed to turn toward Central Market, even (when) there are no cars approaching from the other direction.

“Sometimes the oncoming path is clear for a long time, and still we all just sit there waiting for the light cycle to finish and we get the green arrow again.

 ”Last Saturday was exceptionally irritating,” she wrote. “That light went through several cycles allowing all forward moving traffic to head along Highway 305, but the  turn arrow for Central Market turned green only once out of four cycles.  We sat there for at least FIVE MINUTES (at that point I stopped counting).  Finally some cars simply went through the red turn signal, since there was no oncoming traffic.

 She wondered why the state didn’t go back to the old way.

The in basket: Not going to happen, says the Olympic Region signal shop, which changed  the left turn into what is called a “protected” turn, meaning it can only be made on a green arrow light,  when oncoming traffic has a red light. 

They did it during the widening of the highway, in the interests of “consistency”  in that traffic corridor, they said.

Don Anders, head of the signal shop says that hasn’t changed. 

“The more consistent we can operate a corridor the better driver expectancy is met,” he said. ”This leads to less confusion and better overall traffic movement.  When the fourth leg of the intersection at Forest Rock opened it was best we changed this operation to match the corridor.” 

He also said they have no record of the signal malfunctioning on the Saturday Mary describes.

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The in basket: Dave Dahlke asks, “What’s with the traffic light at the South Kitsap Mall? If a car comes up from the mall to take a right turn onto the highway the light almost always turns green for it without even giving the vehicle driver the chance to execute a free right. 

“The light stays red longer for drivers desiring to make a left turn onto the highway or to go straight through then for those vehicles which have the option of a free right turn. This causes numerous stops to east-west traffic on the highway.

“I have never seen a backup in the right turn lane from this parking lot and have to question why there is even a trigger for this light from the right turn lane.

“I believe the light should not be activated any sooner (if at all) then it is for those cars utilizing the right turn lanes at Long Lake Road, Woods Road and California Avenue,” Dave said.

The out basket: Actually, the lane for straight-ahead traffic and right-turn traffic coming out of the mall parking lot (It’s called Towne Square Mall now) is the same lane.

And that accounts for the detection in the right turn lane, says Jim Johnstone of the Olympic Region signal shop in Tumwater. If they didn’t have it, straight ahead traffic wouldn’t be detected. 

The other Mile Hill Drive signals David cites as preferable have dedicated lanes for right turners in at least one direction. They also belong to Kitsap County. The state owns and operates the mall signal.

I watched it one day recently and found it hard to see whether the time that elapsed between the arrival of a right turner and a green light for that car was attributable to that car’s arrival. 

When there was traffic coming out of the high school complex on the highway’s opposite side, or a car wanting to go straight out of the mall, the count-down to a red light for Mile Hill Drive traffic often had already begun before the right turner even showed up. Pedestrians who had triggered their light for crossing the highway have the same effect. 

Jim says because traffic crossing the highway is light except when classes at the high school end for the day, and because of Dave’s observations, he has put a 7-second delay on the right turn-through signal leaving the mall. A car now has to be there seven second before the light will detect it. It then will take at least four seconds longer for the light to turn green, stopping traffic on Mile Hill Drive. 

“Please understand that this may minimize, but will not eliminate the signal changing to the side street as a right turner departs from the intersection,” he said. 

Seven seconds won’t be enough if traffic heading east on Mile Hill Drive is heavy, I would guess, or when two or three vehicles are waiting to turn right onto Mile Hill (it does happen).

Incidentally, the right turn lane delays on the county’s signals farther east on Mile Hill Drive are 10 seconds, except at Long Lake Road, where there is no traffic detection in the right turn lane.

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The in basket: Ed Runquist asks “Why are the vehicle counters that stretch across the highway some times a single cable and sometimes two cables?  About a week ago when traveling from auto center towards Gorst, there were actually four cables near the last underpass.”

I, too, saw cables on the downgrade where traffic coming out of Bremerton meets the remaining lane of southbound traffic on Highway 3, though I thought there were only three. 

I can’t be sure Ed and I are talking about the same spot in that interchange. There were cables across the through lanes and one on the off-ramp to go into Bremerton, too. 

I wondered if the state was comparing traffic counts coming out of Bremerton and on Highway 3 coming south, a notorious backup scene on weekday afternoons. They’ve said no to suggestions about revising the alignment there in the past, but I wondered if they were rethinking.

The out basket: No, says Steve Bennett, traffic operations engineer for the Olympic Region of state highways. The tubes are counting traffic in preparation for reinforcement safety work on the rocky cliffs near Windy Point between there and Gorst the summer of 2011. The work, to include rock bolting and installment of mesh screens, will require lane closures. 

As for why there are different numbers of tubes stretched across the traffic lanes in these counts, Steve says, “We use two tubes (near one another) on highways, typically, for two reasons.  

“The first is when we have two lanes going the same direction, as we do on (Highway) 3, and we want individual lane counts.  

“The first tube stretches across both lanes while the second stretches across just the near lane.  From this, the tube that crosses both lanes gives us the total count for the highway and the other tube gives us the count for the near lane, thus enabling us to know the counts for each lane. 

“It is done this way to minimize the amount of time personnel have to work in the middle of the highway.

 ”The second reason there may be two tubes on a roadway is redundancy,” he said.  “On high speed/high volume roadways, tubes tend to become damaged and/or non-working at a higher rate than on lower speed/lower volume roads. 

“Doubling up increases the odds that we will get the data we need without having to come back later and/or potentially delaying whatever project we may be needing the data for.”

He also said there are only two tubes on that downgrade where  Highway 304 joins Highway 3. That certainly was true on Feb. 23 when I went back and looked. Either I was mistaken in what I thought I saw earlier or it was changed. Since then, both tunes for southbound Highway 304 have been moved back closer to Bremerton.

When I asked if multiple cables also can record vehicle speeds and the number of axles, Steve said yes.

And when I asked why there are two tubes on the downgrade, but only one on the corresponding off-ramp on the other side of the highway, for traffic heading into Bremerton, it turns out there is one more reason for variety in the number of tubes deployed. 

After putting out the tubes on the on-ramp and the mainline in both directions, Steve said, they only had one left.

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The in basket: Glenda Wagoner, who concedes that she’s the kind of driver who has generated complaints about how she passes (though she says it’s always in a legal manner), thinks there is an explanation of danger on the two-lane stretches of Highway 305 that can be reduced without reducing the speed limit. 

The state has dropped that limit from 55 to 50 mph between Poulsbo and Bainbridge Island.

Even before the announcement of that impending change, she was on the line to me saying there should be more 55 mph signs on 305, because a lot of drivers won’t go higher that 50 or even less. They miss the only sign coming out of Poulsbo southbound raising the limit and keep at the speed they were going while in Poulsbo, she contends. 

 That creates unsafe passing by drivers who know the speed limit and get anxious behind those who stay way below it, she said. 

Put up more 55 mph signs, she said in her first call. Don’t lower the speed limit, she said in her second.

The out basket: Well, says Steve Bennett, traffic operations engineer for the Olympic Region of state highways, more signs she’ll get. But they’ll say 50 mph.

“We plan on placing four new speed limit signs on the corridor next month,” he said.

“As far as the speed limit goes,” he said, “our speed studies did indicate that 50 mph was the appropriate speed limit for the highway given current levels of congestion.  

“In terms of collisions, the major cause of collisions on the corridor is rear-end type accidents, and generally those are caused by inattention on the part of the trailing driver.”

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The in basket: Larry Guidici writes, “I drive through Silverdale regularly.  What is going on under the surface of Silverdale Way adjacent to the tractor store?  

“(Several)  weeks ago the surface became ‘mogully’ across the direction of traffic.  There was some work done on either side of the roadway, at the curbs.  But the moguls are between the two work areas where a bazzillion cars drive each day.  Am I in danger of driving into a crevasse?  Or worse, a Kitsap County storm drain?”

The out basket: The roughness resulted from a water main break on Nov. 7, says Eric Pickard of the Silverdale Water District.

Since then, the water district has been making intermittent repairs when the surface gets too bad, as directed by Kitsap County, Eric says. The patch that stretches across the road near Carlton Street, done Feb. 10, was the most recent work.

They will permanently repair it next summer. They will be replacing a number of water mains installed in the 1940s between Anderson Hill Road and Lowell Street, then give about 70 feet of Silverdale Way a finished paving across all four or five lanes. Eric says he expects that to happen in June or July.

Incidentally, the water main break could have done a lot more damage had not water district Maintenance Manager Tim Knapp happened past the spot just after water from the break surfaced that Saturday night and called in repair crews immediately. A major sink hole might have developed had the problem gone unnoticed for a couple hours, Eric said.

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The in basket: Dennis Van Ieperen, one of those who crosses Burwell Street many days on his way to work at Naval Base Bremerton said the next intersection east of State Street, where a traffic signal has just been installed for pedestrian safety, needs some revisions.

A Navy person was hit and badly hurt there this winter, he noted. It’s the Chester Avenue intersection.

Visibility of pedestrians is reduced there by a tree and shrubbery that fill what is called a bulb-out, a widening of the sidewalk that lessens the distance to cross the street, he said. Worsening the situation is the position of the street light right above the tree and the fact the pedestrian warning sign on that side of Burwell is farther back from the street edge that its counterpart for westbound traffic.

“You are supposed to detect a pedestrian in the dark behind the bushes and that tree,” he said. “Why is it still there?”.

The out basket: Colen Corey, the acting public works operations manager for the city of Bremerton, replies, “I agree that there is some

vegetation there, however there are 3 signs there indicating a crosswalk

that can be seen from a reasonable distance.

“We at public works are very sensitive to the controversial nature of cutting or removing vegetation from the right of way, but we always strive to do the prudent thing. Currently,

some slight pruning of the shrubbery will be performed to enhance

visibility, but there are no plans to add to or reposition existing

signs at this time.”

Colen included the accompanying photo to support his position.

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The in basket: Margaret Gibbard e-mailed to say “The signs at the Bucklin Hill Road/Tracyton Boulevard are misleading.  At that intersection, Tracyton Boulevard is south of Bucklin and Myhre is north of Bucklin.  The signs only name Tracyton Boulevard, both north and south on Bucklin.”

The out basket: When Margaret first wrote, I figured it was a small matter of changing one of the small signs on a sign pole. But when I visited the site, I saw that she was talking about the large overhead signs installed on the signal cross-arms. And that’s just the start.

“This intersection should have signs that indicate both roads,” says Jeff Shea, the county traffic engineer, ” and we are working to correct that.”

The county sign shop isn’t equipped to make those signs, so the county contracts with Zumar of Tacoma for them. “The cost of each sign at that size is $2,741,” he said. “They use light-emitting capacitor lighting and their average life span is 10-15 years.”

This new generation of street signs actually lights up. You can see the wire leading into them on the four or five Silverdale intersections that have them, including this one. 

“The light is actually in the sign film itself,” Jeff said.  ”LEC illumination increases visibility for motorists as they do not rely on a vehicle’s headlights or street lighting for visibility. LEC technology increases the distance from which they can be seen.”

That can increase safety, I would imagine, as the drivers aren’t looking away from traffic as long to identify where they want to turn.

“An additional benefit of LEC technology,” Jeff said, “is smaller signs. Because the signs are illuminated internally the  (guidelines)  allows smaller letter sizes. This reduces the size and reduces the associated stress on poles.

“We do not plan to retrofit all street name signs, but will consider LEC illumination for any major intersection modification.” As for the omission at the new Bucklin Hill/Tracyton Boulevard intersection, “when the signs are replaced, the manufacturer will remove the film from the old signs, allowing us to use the sign on a future project,” Jeff said.

Though expensive, LEC signs are just half the cost of the alternative to have lighted street signs, those that are backlit, he said.

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