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?

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.
“I have been through there a half-dozen times, various times of the day, light and heavy traffic, always someone treating it as it used to be and all times raising the tempers of the drivers, all who think they were correct.”
Two days later, Stan Smith weighed in with “The revision [left turn yield on green] can stop several cars from
proceeding straight ahead while one car is waiting to turn left. The only alternative is to unlawfully cross the fog line and pass the waiting left turner on the right. This type of signal should be used only when there is a dedicated left turn storage lane provided!”
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?
The out basket: Whatever happened, the Road Warrior column probably contributed. I’d reported a number of complaints from drivers who didn’t regard the old way as being as trouble-free as the above comments would suggest. Last time I wrote about it on May 24 the county said it would consider some different timing alignments. They did and it wasn’t very popular. They gave it up Monday.
Doug Bear, spokesman for public works, says they’ll explore whether they can carve out enough room to add one or more left turn lanes there, but other than that no further changes are planned.