The in basket: Ralph Long Jr. wonders about a rough stretch of Central Valley Road just north of where he lives in Silverdale Estates. After a sewer line was buried in the roadway, the patch was poorly done, “bumpy and unsafe for a car traveling 40 mph, which is the speed limit,” he said. “Winter and slippery roads could add to the problem.”
Monthly Archives: July 2006
Giving Bicyclists Room to Work With
The in basket: Ga Neille Posey Hostvedt said in April she’d
heard of a new law regarding the proper way to pass a bicyclist
going in the same direction you are.
“The old law states that a driver must allow at least three feet of
space when overtaking and passing a bicycle. But, the cyclist may
become startled, fall and then three feet of space is not a safe
distance; thus the new law.”
A month later, Michael Maddox of Poulsbo asked “What does the law
say about a driver veering across the yellow line when passing a
bicyclist or a pedestrian, given that there is no oncoming traffic
and also no cars turning onto the street?
A Ramp by Any Other Name…
The in basket: David Ely read last week’s Road Warrior column
about the off-ramp to be built next year to allow southbound
traffic approaching the Warren Avenue bridge to exit and proceed
downhill to Lebo Boulevard.
He said he was confused by my assertion that it would lead to the
intersection of Callahan Drive and Lebo Boulevard. They don’t
intersect, he said. Juniper is the name of the street that meets
Lebo. He used to live in that area, he added
Remember Laws When Encountering Bicyclists
The in basket: Dorothy Spadoni of McCormick Woods describes a
scary event she saw driving west on Sedgwick Road at the Highway 16
interchange, where she stopped for a red light.
“I was three or four cars from the light and (two) bicycle riders
passed me on the right and proceeded to the light where they
stopped also.” she wrote.
“When the light turned green, one of the bicycle riders proceeded
straight across the intersection. As the second bicycle rider
started to go straight across, a large delivery truck he was next
to proceeded to make a right turn with the green light to enter the
freeway entrance ramp causing the bicycle rider to have to veer off
to let the truck go by.
“Who had the right of way in this situation,” she asked, “the
bicycle rider or the truck driver?
Shipyard Shortcut Route May be Cut Off
The in basket: In March of 2005, John Jurgens wrote to suggest a
solution to one of the irritations of leaving Bremerton during the
shipyard rush.
There are a lot of vehicles turning right at the light at
Charleston Beach Road and
coming down to merge right at the old Jensen’s market,” he said
then. I notice they’re still doing it.
“They are just doing that to jump ahead of the traffic and all it
does is slow down everybody,” John wrote.
County Gives Up on Signal Experiment
The in basket: Complaints to the Road Warrior about an
experiment Kitsap County conducted with the sequence of the traffic
signal at Central Valley and Fairgrounds roads began on July 7 when
J.D. Shaw of Tracyton wrote, “Despite the signage and warnings. the
intersection has become a breeding ground for ‘Road Rage’ and new
accidents to occur, and I know KCSO does not have to go out
drumming up additional business.
Tuesday David Payne noted that the signal had been changed back to
the way in was.
“What happened?” he asked. “Too many accidents? (I know of one on
Saturday night that had the interesction blocked – the first I have
seen at the intersection in the 10 years I have lived in the
neighborhood). What are the county/state’s plans for this
intersection NOW?
Wheaton Off-Ramp Is Finally on the Way
The in basket: I noticed some painted markings on the pavement on the north approach to the Warren Avenue Bridge in Bremerton and wondered if the city is finally going to add an off-ramp for southbound traffic, something I can recall writing was going to be done years ago. I asked Luke Korpi, managing engineer for public works in the city.
Why the Big Metal Pipe on Mile Hill Drive?
The in basket: The neighbors around the Mile Hill Drive
construction project in South Kitsap, including me, looked at
several lengths of huge corrugated metal pipe lying alongside the
work and wondered what it could be for. There aren’t any streams
near there and the pipe is way too large to be needed to channel
rain runoff..
I asked their purpose.
Front License Plates are Required
The in basket: Terri Herstad asks about the need to have a
license plate on the front of one’s vehicle.
“My husband purchased his car from a dealer in Tacoma and it had no
license plate on the front of the car,” she said. “This car was a
trade-in from another state where front plates aren’t required.
“When he asked them to install the plate onto the front, the dealer
told him to leave it on the front dash. The dealer said this was
perfectly legal. Since then, both my husband and I have been pulled
over several times for the front plate not being mounted onto the
front of the car.
“Are front plates required to be mounted on the front of the
car?
No Loopholes for Left Turn Drivers
The in basket: Tony Busch asks, “At a 2-way stop at an
intersection, if you want to turn left, and there is another car
opposite of you, do you have to wait for every car that pulls up to
the stop sign opposite of you, even though you were there
first?
“It is not explained clearly in the Washington State Drivers
Guide,” he said.
