Road Warrior

The in basket: Doug Hatfield asked about the time the new traffic signal at Highway 305 and Madison Avenue on Bainbridge Island was turned on what compelled its installation. “How did it get a higher priority initially,” he asked “I don’t think there have been any fatality accidents there.”

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The in basket: David Ledbetter says in an e-mail that there is a short section of road that has two speed limits. 
“When you leave Port Orchard along the water going toward Gorst, the speed limit is 45 until the speed changes in Gorst to 40.  When you are on Highway 16 coming in from Tacoma the speed is 60 then it slows to 50 until you get in Gorst and it changes to 40.  There is a section where the road from Port Orchard and Tacoma merge where the traffic from Port Orchard has a speed limit of 45 and the traffic from Tacoma has a speed limit of 50. 

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The in basket: My stepdaughter Ronda Armstrong passed along a question from her friend Riley Brazil, who wonders if the open container law regarding alcoholic beverages applies to people in the back of a motor home on the road.

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The in basket: Craig Tompkins of Bremerton writes, “A couple of summers ago, I was pulled over by a Washington State patrolman on a a beautiful moonlit night because (and only because) I had my factory installed (bumper level) fog lamps lit on my newer SUV. 
“I normally always had them on day and night as running lights for better visibility for both me at night and for others to see me during the day. 
“To my surprise, I was informed that having the fog lamps on during anything but ‘inclement or foggy’ weather was illegal and punishable by a $101 fine.

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The in basket: Colleen Robbins of Olalla and Charles Palmer have suggestions for a couple of Sedgwick Road locations in South Kitsap that are a a few hundred yards apart.
Colleen says, “This community is in serious need of a stop light at the intersection of Phillips and Sedgwick. This corner has got to have our attention now if we are going to stop all the danger that lies there.”
Visiting family members were hurt in an accident there in February, she said.
Charles used the Road Warrior blog available at kitsapsun.com to renew his suggestion that Sedgwick get a right turn lane westbound at Jackson Avenue, just uphill from Phillips.

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The in basket: John DiGiovanni says “Central Valley Road and Fairgrounds Road is an extremely busy intersection particularly from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. With Woodlands and Cottonwood elementary schools and Fairview Junior High and Olympic High School in close proximity, in addition to fairgrounds events through the year, why has the intersection not been upgraded?
“Currently only one direction of travel is
permitted at a time, ” he said, “with no left hand turn lanes. At times, quite frequently, I have seen vehicles backed up to 25 or 35 vehicles as the wait for the three other directions of travel are cycled.

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The in basket: Those who thought that abandoning the “When Children are Present ” activator of a 20-mile-per-hour speed limit in school zones would eliminate all the confusion must be disappointed.
The Road Warrior is getting more questions than ever about how to interpret the signs, so I imagine the traffic officials are too.

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The in basket: Charlotte Newsome of Port Orchard wonders what the difference is between a street marked Dead End and one marked No Outlet. “Seems like, either way, you’re not getting out of there unless you go back the way you came in,” she said.

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The in basket: Don Palmer, who lives in Gorst, said he once interceded to keep a confused driver from trying to turn right underneath the overpass in front of the Subaru dealership in Gorst, hoping to go toward Belfair, which would have had her driving the wrong way against three lanes of eastbound traffic.
He said signs prohibiting right turns and indicating that it is one-way eastbound are needed there.

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The in basket: Joyce Moyer of Olalla says that Mullenix
Road in South Kitsap is sinking on its north shoulder just downhill from Phillips Road and that recently, the pavement has developed a crack.

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