The in basket: I recently happened upon a 2 1/2-year-old e-mail
I’d misplaced, in which Dick McDonald said, “I’m wondering how
speed limits are set on county roads.
“There is one stretch of road that I know of that seems to have a
speed limit that is lower than it should be,” Dick said. “The road
between Holly and Dewatto has a speed limit of 25 mph for the
entire length in Kitsap County and that seems unusually low. I can
see why the speed limit is 25 mph for the first half mile from
Holly towards Dewatto (there are homes along that stretch), but the
rest of the road looks like it should have a 40 mph speed limit (no
homes and reasonable visibility).
The in basket: I recently happened upon a 2 1/2-year-old e-mail I’d
misplaced, in which Dick McDonald said, “I’m wondering how speed
limits are set on county roads.
“There is one stretch of road that I know of that seems to have a
speed limit that is lower than it should be,” Dick said. “The road
between Holly and Dewatto has a speed limit of 25 mph for the
entire length in Kitsap County and that seems unusually low. I can
see why the speed limit is 25 mph for the first half mile from
Holly towards Dewatto (there are homes along that stretch), but the
rest of the road looks like it should have a 40 mph speed limit (no
homes and reasonable visibility).
“I suspect that the 25 mph speed limit is a hold-over from the old
days when the road wasn’t paved. How should a citizen go about
questioning a speed limit?”
The out basket: Doug Bear of Kitsap County Public Works passed
along the reply of the county’s traffic investigation office.
“The road from Holly to Dewatto is only a lane and a half wide in
many areas, and has numerous curves. Based on that, he feels 25 is
the appropriate speed limit there. A higher speed limit would
require posting several warning and advisory
signs in those areas that don’t support 40 mph.”
As for the general question of where to question a speed limit, for
Kitsap County roads it’s public works Open Line, (360) 337-5777. In
the cities, it would be the city engineer’s office and for state
highways, the regional traffic engineer. In the Olympic Region,
where we are, that’s Steve Kim at (360) 357-2670.
My wife and I often go biking and running along that stretch of road with our doggies. We live in the Community of Holly. When cars go speeding through there above the speed limit (they never go under 35 mph), we often have to run off the shoulder of the road. The County should post signs that indicate “Pedestrians and Bicycles” like they do on the North Shore Road in Belfair (I know, that’s Mason County). There are often loose doggies (not ours) and wild animals on that stretch of road, also.
I’ve never seen law enforcement out there (on Dewatto Road), so I suspect that’s why few drivers obey the posted limit.