The in basket: Jim Thompson of Manchester saw the recent Road Warrior discussion of why the Burley-Olalla interchange project will take two years to complete, and was intrigued by the plan for Highway 16 to cross over Burley-Olalla Road, rather than vice versa. He wondered why.

I mused about perhaps the close proximity of Burley Creek being the reason, or maybe it’s to achieve a “balance of dirt”  that saves money that would have to be spent hauling a lot of dirt in or out.

I went to the horse’s mouth, Project Engineer Brenden Clarke, and learned that my guesses were off the mark.

The out basket: There are two reasons, Brenden said. 

“In order to get Burley-Olalla over Highway 16, a very high and long structure would be needed, due to the steep grade of Burley-Olalla Road.  The structure

that has been designed is very short, taking advantage of the level grade of Highway 16.  

“The other issue was soil stability,” he said. “A structure

requires stable soil for its foundations to withstand vehicular and earthquake loads.  The soil under Burley-Olalla Road on the west side is very poor material and has a very high moisture content (so) is not suitable to support a structure.”  

For those reasons, he said,”it was much more cost effective to

construct a bridge over Burley-Olalla.

And they don’t have a balance of dirt. Even if they’d used soil already there, they would have had to import a million cubic yards, Brenden said. They’ve opted to remove the unsuitable original soil, so they’ll have to haul in 3 million cubic yards. 

The in basket: Deann Irish thinks its an odd paradox that the state insists that we replace our car license plates every seven years so that the reflectivity of the plates is good and police can see them at night, while the state has introduced online renewal of one’s driver’s license that reuses one’s old license photo on the new license.

Isn’t a current photo of a person stopped by the police a lot more important than a reflective plate, she asked.

The out basket: Brad Benfield of the Department of Licensing says the department and state patrol are aware of that problem, and have put limitations on online renewal to address it. Not everyone is allowed to do it, and no one can do it every time his or her license expires.

“Maintaining a good photo of our licensees was certainly a discussion point when we developed our online renewal process,” he said. They consulted Washington State Patrol and other law enforcement agencies before introducing online renewal,

 ”The first requirement that addresses this is not allowing online renewals to occur two times in a row. If you take advantage of online renewal, you will have to come in to a DOL office to renew the next time your license expires, generally in five years. You can renew online only once between trips to our office for a new picture.

 Further, he said, “An individual’s facial appearance changes most when that individual is young and when they begin to show the physical signs of aging. To address this, we don’t allow individuals who are younger than 25 or older than 65 to use this system. We determined that inside of this range, having a picture updated every 10 years is satisfactory.”  

I also asked Brad about online renewal of the new enhanced driver’s licenses and ID cards and whether there is any weakening in the state’s resolve to force replacement of license plates every seven years. 

He said the EDLs must be renewed in person every time. As for continued plate replacement, he said, “There have been legislative proposals in recent years to repeal it, but they haven’t passed.”

The in basket: John Quatermass of Gig Harbor says he’s heard Kitsap County plans to introduce a salt product to its battle with roadway ice and snow this winter.  He wonders if it’s true.

The out basket: Yes, says Doug Bear of Kitsap County Public Works. He will be announcing the change in a day or two, with a question-and-answer format that addresses the most common question motorists have about salt - how much car damage will it cause. 

The product to be used isn’t granular salt, but a brine solution that will be sprayed on the roads and contain 23.3 percent sodium chloride. The upcoming new release calls it “the safest and most cost-effective anti-icing product available.”

Many people “have stories about how chemicals affected their cars when they lived back east,” it says, seeking to allay fears created by that experience.

This area’s snow and ice storms are relatively mild and brief, the news release says, and are usually followed by rain that washes corrosive anti-icers off the roadway. Further, it says, modern cars are much less vulnerable to corrosion due largely to what they are made of. Still, washing the underside of your car intermittently during the winter is a good idea, it says. 

The state has used a different chemical it sprays on trouble areas before ice is expected to form, inhibiting its formation. It accounts for the parallel dark lines you see on freeway ramps, bridges and curves during cold weather. Duke Stryker, head of the state maintenance department here, said the state uses some salt brine, but none here yet.

The county news release says alternatives to the salt brine cost two to three times more and cites a state transportation department study that found little difference in the corrosive properties of the brine compared to other ice-inhibiting products. 

It cited another state study that said environmental impacts, as measured on Highway 97 at Peshastin Creek in eastern Washington, were insignificant.

The entire news release will be on the public works Web site, www.kitsapgov.com/pw/ by the end of the week, Doug says.

The in basket: Way back in July, Sun staff writer Brynn Grimley wrote, “I noticed that the speed limit on Highway 16 coming into Gorst has changed, and there’s no orange flags or anything to make it obvious.

“Originally the speed limit was 60 mph heading down the hill into Gorst. There was a sign by that wildlife viewing area indicating the “Speed Zone Ahead” and then by Natte Latte there was the 40 mph sign.

“Now, there’s just a 45 mph sign by Elandan Gardens, and then the 40 mph sign. There is no indication that the limit has been reduced by 15 mph. I’ve also noticed other drivers continuing at the 60 mph (or above) through Gorst until hitting the 40 mph sign. 

“When did they make this change?” Brynn asked.

The out basket: The 45 mph sign was a mistake and was quickly removed, says Deanna Brewer, a state highway engineer. I was on vacation in July so I never saw it. 

The reason I bring this up now is what really was intended there and has replaced the erroneous sign, a 40 mph speed limit sign framed by a yellow diamond-shaped sign with an arrow pointing up.

Had I not been told in the spring by engineer Steve Bennett of the state highways that they would be moving back toward Tacoma the advisory sign warning of the upcoming 40 mph zone in Gorst, I would have had to guess whether the arrow sign meant a 40 mph zone was coming up or that one began at that point. I’d never seen one like it.

Deanna Brewer says the signs are warnings of an upcoming speed reduction and that the speed limit between that one and the 40 mph signs in Gorst remains 60.

She said many more of the arrow signs will be appearing between now and 2018 and they will replace the signs that say “Speed Zone Ahead” with the upcoming speed limit beneath them. 

It’s all in the spirit of having signs that don’t require a person to understand English, which seems to me started with the symbols of men and women on restroom doors years ago.  

Deanna said the state is mandated by the federal government to comply with the design change, which was made in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, the traffic engineers bible, with a compliance date of December 2018.  The old signs will be replaced as they wear out or disappear. The 2018 deadline allows the department plenty of time to meet their compliance date, she said.  

Since July, the new style of sign was put on the off-ramp from Highway 3 to Highway 304 entering Bremerton, and I spotted a couple of them on county roads in North Mason.

The in basket: Lesa Refro passed a traffic accident scene in Silverdale back in May and was concerned for a deputy sheriff who was directing traffic there. He was in his green uniform, she said, and hard to see, especially when standing in front of his like-colored patrol car.

“There was so much distraction, so many cars and people and the fire department had big yellow outfits on that really caught your attention,” she said. “I was worried that he would be in a lot of danger. He was really brave.”  She wondered why deputies don’t take the same precaution as the firefighters.

The out basket: Deputy Scott Wilson, spokesman for the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, replied,  “Sheriff’s deputies have been issued reflective traffic vests for

many years now.  Some still have the prior issue ones, orange with reflective lettering, while more recent hires have vests in the OSHA greenish-yellowish coloring.

“Under federal guidelines we are required to equip all deputies with the newer, OSHA traffic vests.  This is an on-going process. The sheriff’s

patrol division is sampling and wear-testing various OSHA reflective

vests to try and determine which is most suitable for our purposes.

“There is no requirement in the current sheriff’s office policy manual

regarding when/where a deputy will don a reflective traffic vest,” Scott added. “Deputies typically will put on a reflective traffic vest if they are

going to be engaged in traffic control for a considerable period of

time. In many instances, though, it’s a matter of only a minute or two

after a deputy arrives on scene that he is conducting traffic control

and then the roadway is clear.

“The policy on the wearing of reflective vests during traffic control

will be reviewed by the sheriff’s patrol division for currency and

applicability.”

The in basket: The way e-mails make the rounds these days, you may have seen the one about labeling phone numbers in your cell phone as ICE or I.C.E., for In Case of Emergency.

I just saw it for the first time, sent in by Clay Weyrick. It evidently originated with a British paramedic who had too often been unable to identify which number in an injured or killed person’s cell phone should be called to notify the person whom the phone owner would want to be told about such a crisis. Even calling a number labeled “Mom” can be a mistake if Mom is too emotionally fragile to deal with it over the phone.

The paramedic urges everyone to enter the best number and name it ICE, so emergency responders can make the key call to the correct person. If you have more than one, call them ICE1, ICE2, etc.

The out basket: You wouldn’t think there’d be a lot to say about such an idea, but urban legend debunker Snopes.com, has several paragraphs on the subject. 

Short answer: Snopes says it’s a true story and a good idea. BUT…

Use it in addition to, not in place of, more traditional ways of getting this word out, such as a card in the wallet near your photo ID. 

Even if they find ICE in a cell phone, responders often can’t be sure it’s the patient’s phone, and  it can be out of power or damaged. They might also not be able to get to a given phone’s preset numbers, given the variety of phones in existence. 

In any event, hospital personnel or those dealing with the patient after the paramedics deliver them are more likely to benefit, as they are the one’s who try to reach the family.

Snopes also said that e-mails saying an ICE entry will enable hackers to drain your minutes or introduce viruses ARE hoaxes.

The in basket:  Chuck Hower of Harper in South Kitsap asks “why the state road administrators give contractors so much time to accomplish

projects that could obviously be completed in much shorter time.

“Specifically, I was asking about the new Olalla-Burley interchange,” Chuck said, “completion for which the state has allowed two years - two years of

traffic disruption for a project that would seem easily to be

constructed in a few months if sufficient resources were devoted to it.

“The mind boggles at the thought of the bunch of

turkeys running such operations today, were they to have been in charge

back in the early 1940s when similar projects had to be accomplished

quickly,” Chuck concluded.

The out basket: Brenden Clarke of the Port Orchard project office for state highways is the project engineer on the Olalla-Burley job and offers the following:

“There are a number of reasons why transportation projects take longer

now than they did in the ’40s.  

“One  of the primary reasons, and one

that certainly applies to Burley-Olalla, is traffic volumes and allowing

traffic to proceed through the work area.  

“Not too long ago, traffic volumes were low enough in many areas to allow work to occur that required lane closures or restrictions during the day. With traffic

volumes as high as they are currently, we can not allow lane closures

during the day in most cases without severely impacting traffic.  

“In addition, lane shifts or temporary detours to accommodate work

activities must now be designed for reasonable speeds and must meet

safety standards. Back in the day, a gravel 10-foot-wide lane around

the work area would suffice. Restrictions on lane closures and the need

to construct adequate temporary bypass lanes adds time and costs to

(state) projects.

“Environmental permitting is much more stringent now that

even 10 years ago. This certainly applies to Burley-Olalla as SR 16

traverses over two fish passages within the project limits and is

adjacent to numerous wetland areas. Environmental permit compliance adds time and cost to (our) projects.

“The Burley Olalla project is scheduled to be completed in two years due

to the above issues, and the need to revise the horizontal alignment of

(Highway) 16.  Due to geometric and environmental constraints, (Highway) 16 will be rebuilt to go over Burley-Olalla (Road).  This will require that temporary

lanes be constructed to detour traffic around the current alignment.  Our contractor is using the new on- and off-ramp alignment

for this detour which will reduce costs and time, but work cannot begin

on the new alignment until traffic is shifted.  In addition, work

on the new bridge will not be able to begin until the detour alignments

are constructed.

“Weather is another factor that increases the duration of projects in

Washington state. It is difficult to perform earth work in

inclement weather, and we do not allow paving or striping to occur

unless weather conditions are favorable.  We specified the use of

material on the Burley project that can withstand some poor weather

conditions, but if it gets too wet it will become unworkable.”

Brenden said bad weather causes delays imposed by environmental restrictions.

“Some additional time savings could have been realized on the

Burley-Olalla project by utilizing pre-cast structures for the bridge,” he said, “but the cost was prohibitive, considering

the limited time savings that would have been realized.  

“We have a very

motivated contractor and are working with them to reduce the duration of

the project, but two years is not unreasonable for a new interchange in

Washington.  

“If we were constructing an interchange in Arizona with lower

traffic volumes, I could guarantee that an interchange could be

constructed in less than a full year, assuming level terrain,” Brenden said.

The in basket: Jane Myers  of Olympiad Drive in South Kitsap, one of the Harper area residents in favor of the Kitsap County’s planned alteration of Southworth Drive through Harper, asked in July whatever became of the project. I had lost track of the proposal and wondered myself if the impending departure from office of County Commissioner Jan Angel, a key proponent of the work in the face of opposition among the property owners to be affected, might be the end of it.

The out basket: Since Jane asked, there have been news stories bringing us up to date and revealing that the project is still planned, regardless of Jan Angel’s decision to run for the Legislature instead of reelection. 

The state Shorelines Hearings Board in late August rejected an appeal by the project’s opponents, which was based in part on the changed slope of the road and loss of landside ditches, which they feel will increase contaminated roadway runoff into the bay or onto the beach. 

They have asked the hearings board to reconsider, the kind of  reversal I’ve never seen happen after an initial ruling, in court or otherwise. A final decision is due this month. After that, the opponents can go to court to try to stop it, and opposition leader Rebecca McCoy says she will, if it comes to that. 

The project has been on the county’s road improvement list for a couple of years, and now is expected to show up on the 2009 project list, due in December. Continued appeals could delay it further.

The work would add four-foot shoulders for bicycles and pedestrians to the road from the Harper Dock to Olympiad and a foot in width to the travel lanes. It’s estimated to cost $910,000. 

The in basket: Tom Marcucci of Allyn writes to say, “I drive the new Navy Yard Highway several times each week, usually carpooling. Last week I drove it alone and did not use the carpool lane, but noticed about every third car in the HOV lane (had) a single occupant and had some type of PSNS base sticker on it.  

“Do shipyard workers automatically get to use the HOV lane even when they are driving alone?” he asked.

The out basket: No, they are taking their chances that they won’t be noticed by a law enforcement officer and ticketed to a tune of $124.

“We have also noticed that there numerous SOVs using the HOV lane and have asked for enforcement from the State Patrol,” says Lynn Price,  who headed the project for the city of Bremerton. 

Trooper Krista Hedstrom. spokesman for the state patrol here, says, “Shipyard workers are not allowed a free pass. The troopers in this area are certainly aware of this problem. As time allows, depending on the volume of calls for service, they are working the area and this issue has been addressed.”

.   

The in basket: Motorcyclist Bill Hottinger of Silverdale writes, “I was recently admonished by a convenience store clerk about wearing my helmet in the store.  He stated it was illegal to wear a full face helmet into a store or bank in Washington state. I have never heard this and cannot Google up any reference to this claim.  True, or false?”

Bill added that he had the face visor of his helmet in the up position at the time.

The out basket: If there is such a law, it’s news to Bremerton police, the county sheriff’s office, the county prosecutor, Kitsap Bank vice president Tony George. Motorcycle magazine publisher Mike Dalgaard of Quick Throttle magazine thinks Oregon and/or California have such a law and said there might be such a law here, but he wasn’t sure.

Kitsap Sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Scott Wilson said he was recently in Southern California and saw the following stenciled at the entrance of a bank: “For your safety and ours, customers will remove caps and sunglasses prior to entering.” He said he didn’t  know if this is state law in California, or just a requirement of the bank.

It could be either. Tony George at Kitsap Bank said it is their policy to require the removal of stocking caps or visored helmets inside the banks. And I spotted on the glass entry to Columbia Bank at the Sedgwick Road interchange an admonition similar to the one Scott saw in Southern California. Probably all banks have the same rule, and some convenience stores also might. I wouldn’t want a customer with his or her face shrouded in my store if I were a clerk. 

But it doesn’t appear to be the law.