Road Warrior

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.”

(more…)

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?

(more…)

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

(more…)

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?

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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?

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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?

(more…)

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.

(more…)