The in basket: TJ Sizemore writes, “There has been quite a bit of conversation in my area for a long time re: the 55-mph speed limit on Hansville Road in North Kitsap. Many in my community have the opinion that the road is too fast given there is a casino, waste station, grocery/gas store, many driveways, and many new homes being built in the Hansville area. I came across RCW 46.61.400(2)(b) which states that the speed limit for county roads is 50 mph. Why is Hansville Road an exception or is there an exception for raising a speed limit on county roads?
Monthly Archives: April 2007
Reduce speed limit at SK park entrances
The in basket: Jill Bangart ask why South Kitsap Community Park
does not have the surrounding roads marked with signs announcing
the park entrance and having the traffic slow to 25 mph due to the
park being there.
“Take a look at Long Lake Community Park,” she said. “Traffic slows
to 25 mph. Why isn’t South Kitsap Community Park granted the same
slow down?”
Helping cars get through on Hemlock in East Bremerton
The in basket: Al Littlejohn noticed the narrow passageway often
left by parked cars on Hemlock Street between Callahan Drive and
Clare Avenue near Harrison Medical Center, which often leaves room
for only one direction of travel when cars are parked on both
sides. He suggests a solution other than the obvious one, which
would be prohibiting parking on one side of the other.
Instead, says Al, make Hemlock and Clare a one-way couplet, with
one-way traffic only permitted from Callahan downhill and around
the curve to Clare, and make Clare one-way uphill from there to
Callahan.
Stop sign at White Horse questioned – again
The in basket: Joe Matot of Indianola says, “On South Kingston
Road heading south (toward Indianola), there is a sign
that clearly says “Arterial turns.” There is no stop sign for
traffic leaving White
Horse.
However, if you’re heading north (toward Kingston) at the same
curve, there is
a stop sign. So everyone coming from Indianola, Miller Bay, and
everywhere
else heading for Kingston or the ferry has to stop for the few
leaving the
housing and golf course areas.
“Put the stop sign on the road leaving White Horse
and remove the one for the northbound main arterial traffic,” said
Joe.
Are big electronic signs a waste of money?
The in basket: After I mused a while back that warning of ice on
the pavement on cold winter mornings would be a worthwhile function
for the underused electronic roadside sign on the big pedestal just
north of Austin Drive on Highway 3, Vivian Henderson asked “how
much did each of those signs costs taxpayers?
“When I pass them – there must be four or five in Kitsap County –
and they are messageless (and most of the time they are blank), I
see $$$$ signs all over them. What a rip off for taxpayers.”
CK intersection missing visible centerline
The in basket: Sharrell Lee asked in early March, “Are there
plans to restripe the Brownsville Highway where it meets Highway
303? The center line is totally worn away which makes this sharp
corner,
created by the removal of the yield way, even more dangerous.
When left turns on red aren’t legal
The in basket: Jim Lawson e-mailed with the following
scenario.
“I am coming from work at the shipyard at midnight on Burwell (in
downtown Bremerton),” he said. “I am stopped at the red light at
Washington. Washington to the right is one way coming from the
ferry terminal. Washington to the left is “right turn only”
onto Burwell. Stopped at the red light, if there is no
traffic on Washington, is it legal to turn left?”
Questionable traffic stop on Highway 16
The in basket: Frank Gentile wrote in December with the
following tale:
“My daughter delivers for one of our daily local newspapers.
So on three separate occasions she has been driving on
Highway 16 at 3 a.m. from Bremerton to Port Orchard between
Tremont and Sedgwick where the speed limit is 60 mph.
On one
occasion, she was pulled over by the State Patrol and on two
other occasions followed by the Bremerton PD.
“The officer’s reason for the stop was ‘because she was going the
speed limit at 3 a.m. and this seems suspicious to him and she may
have something to hide.’ He wrote no citation.
“This is plan insanity,” Frank said.
Can disabled person stay in the car while parked?
The in basket: Bob Rogers wrote in following the last time I
addressed disabled parking rules and said, “In today’s column, you
stated that the disabled person must be present in the car to use a
disability parking place. Before, I thought you said they also have
to get out of the car and enter the
store. It doesn’t seem right that an able bodied person could park
in a disabled space and go in the store. They could park in a
regular space.”
Aggressive driver at freeway merge
The in basket: Bill White writes that “when merging onto Highway
3 off Austin Drive, the car far behind me in the right-hand lane
suddenly sped up and cut me off in the merge lane bottleneck as I
was getting onto the highway, almost hitting
me. I could not yield, and he would not yield either. When merging
onto the highway and nobody is letting you on, who has the legal
right-of-way in a merge lane
bottleneck?
