False alarm about sign at dreaded Bremerton merge
The in basket: Cpl. Bob Millard of the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office made a wholly unexpected comment at a coffee group a while back when the conversation turned to the much-discussed rush-hour backup on southbound Highway 3 approaching Highway 304 at the west end of Bremerton.
He said all the discussion of what’s legal or polite in moving over to the left lane early or staying in the right lane until a merge is physically necessary is theoretically settled long before a driver even reaches the backup.
It’s way back nearly to the Kitsap Way overpass, he said, where a sign says “Thru Traffic Kept Left.” It’s a white sign with black lettering, which makes it a regulatory sign as opposed to an advisory sign. Advisory signs usually are yellow.
He’d never stopped anyone for staying in the right lane and never expects to, Bob said, but it would be theoretically possible.
I was dumbfounded. Bob’s analysis seemed sound, but if true it would make illegal any use of the right lane beyond the Loxie Eagans off-ramp, the last chance to do anything EXCEPT go straight.
The same sign is posted in the curve in Gorst as one heads to Bremerton, but it’s past the point where anything but proceeding straight is possible.
I asked the intent and significance of those signs.
The out basket: I wasn’t alone in my surprise. State Trooper Krista Hedstrom, my source for WSP information, admitted she’d never even noticed the sign until I asked. She said Bob Millard appeared to be correct, based on the color of the sign, but that she couldn’t find anyone in the local detachment who had ever enforced it.
But it turns out not to be a regulatory sign despite its color. There is no state law that makes ignoring it a violation, said Lisa Murdock of the state Department of Transportation.
Steve Bennett, traffic operations engineer for the state’s Olympic Region elaborated. He said, “At one time black/white was also used for informational signing, but that use is being phased out.”
An example is the recent conversion of the black/white Speed Zone Ahead signs, the very essence of an advisory sign, to have a prominent yellow component. The old signs are to be replaced between now and 2018, and many already are.
The Keep Left sign in Gorst is intended to create gaps in the outside lane traffic for cars needing to merge as they enter on the on-ramp from Belfair, he said.
Generally, he said, drivers can used the following color coding to evaluate the need to observe a highway sign:
Black/White - regulatory (enforceable)
Blue - Service Guidance (food, gas, lodging) and tourist info
Brown - Recreational (mainly state parks)
Orange - Temporary traffic control (work zones)
Yellow - Warning (advisory)
Red – Stop or Prohibition.
As for the merge of highways 3 and 304, things are as they always have been, with each driver free to choose whether to get over early or stay in the right lane to reach the actual merge point.
Tags: advisory sign, Bremerton, Highway 3, Highway 304, merge, regulatory sign, Thru Traffic Keep Left
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Those who design the highway and/or revise the highway design with striping, are engineers who are supposed to calculate trafic flow dynamics. They then incorporate that result into the design of the most updated, and effective flow pattern. The highway department then stripes the pavement in order to allow the best and most effective traffic flow.
Why do people believe it to be rude to follow the traffic flow design on the pavement (A cause of some road rage)? If drivers would stay in their respective driving lanes until the traffic control measures on the pavement direct them to merge, traffic should flow in the most effective and expeditious manner. If there is a situation that slows traffic at “a merge of two lanes”, by design, the “point of merge” would flow most efficiently, by both lanes traveling to the last possible merging point and alternatingly merge, “car-for-car.”
There should be a law which would enforce this principle. For example, “Not yielding to the alternate vehicle from the other lane in turn.” The reason being that, if there is a back-up on a two lane highway for a mile where all drivers occupy only one lane, the back-up is twice as long as it needs to be. People are jockeying to merge at all places along the line and not merging in the most effective location. There are places to effectively design the merge location which speed the flow of traffic. Those would not be located in the middle of curves, next to on-ramps, and other traffic constraining locations.
This would not only make our existing highways more effective but lessen the waste of natural resources. Seek advice from the respective DOT traffic engineers.
Art
December 24th, 2008 at 7:03 am
Mr. and/or Ms. Cynic: “On a road with two lanes traveling in the same
direction, the left-hand lane is intended to be used for
passing slower vehicles” (Your words dude). If you are occupying the left lane, traveling or parked, and not actively passing vehicles in the right lane, you could be cited for one of many violations
Additionally, “intent, may, should” mean one thing. “Never, shall, shall not” mean another thing.
“Obstructing the flow of traffic,” and “impeding the flow of traffic,” and “failure to yield the right of way,” and “road rage,” and “WSP aggressive driving task force” mean the man in the smokey-the-the bear-hat shall eventually find you. He may even give you a little gift.
Please see: RCW 46.61.100-When overtaking on the right is permitted.; RCW 46.61.115-Keep right except when passing, etc.
Please, have a Merry Christmas.
Art
December 25th, 2008 at 11:59 am
The following section of the Washington State Drivers Guide indicates
that you may stay in the right lane but you should not pass cars that are traveling in the left lane. I will continue to try to prevent obnoxious drivers from passing on the right and cutting in front of me.
“Passing – On a road with two lanes traveling in the same direction,
the left-hand lane is intended to be used for passing slower vehicles. On roads with more than two lanes traveling in the same direction, use the right lane for slower speeds, the middle lanes for higher speeds, and the left-hand lane for passing only. If you pass on the right, the other driver may have difficulty seeing you and might suddenly change lanes in front of you. Never pass on the shoulder, whether it is paved or not. Other drivers will never expect you to be there and may pull off the road without looking.”
Art : This may come as a surprise to you, but you never have the right of way when you are changeing lanes, also activating your turn signal does not give you the right of way. Therefore if you want an alternate merge, you must proceed beyond the end of the lane marking before merging. It has been my observation that this rarely happens.
December 26th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Cynic,
A driver who puts a blinker on and hopes for a space to open in the lane adjacent is not “cutting in front” of you, even if that driver has actually passed a few cars behind you. There are many folks like you who will not allow even one car to enter “their” lane in front of them. I find it odd behavior. When I am in the left lane, I let in anyone who puts a blinker on, as soon as I notice them. Why not?
“Cutting in front” can only happen in a line or queue. On the highway, since we are not all going to the same place, there is no line. If you are on your way to get movie tickets, the car moving into your lane will not be interfering with the availability of those tickets unless that driver is headed to the same movie theater.
No matter where you are going, the odds are most likely that the driver wanting to get into your lane is not going to the same place. How can it matter to anyone what another driver does as long as it is not dangerous? Even if the other driver makes a mistake by staying in the right hand lane longer than you think is polite, who cares?
December 28th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
LindaG: It is drivers like you that cause the problem in the first place. When you let 10 cars go in front of you when they do not have the right of way, you slow the left hand lane to a crawl. If drivers would maintain thier position until the merge point is reached and then alternate merge, the traffic in both lanes would flow smoothly.
December 28th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Cynic…you’ve changed my way of looking at merge points.
I’ve been annoyed at drivers going to the merge point before getting into the left lane…they ’should’ have gotten over earlier.
I have been less than cordial about letting them in.
Thanks for the lesson.
Sharon O’Hara
December 30th, 2008 at 7:14 am
you might want to check your facts before you write your atricles, the sign in question is yellow with black lettering not white with black lettering. and if people wouldjust merrge when its neccesary the back up there would be minimle. beside being only a second worse design behind silverdale interchange. what engineer in his right mind would merge three lanes into one on a curve, downhill and beneath an underpass.