The in basket: While driving on Bethel Road in South Kitsap past a small side street named Keri Street, I noticed a sign below the one identifying the street noting that Keri is a dead end. It is the same size and shape as the one that says Keri Street
There was no diamond shaped dead end sign on the street itself. At the time, I’d never seen anything like it. Now I notice another one on Sedgwick Road out by Sedgwick Junior High.
I asked if that is the wave of the future.
The out basket: Jeff Shea, Kitsap County’s transportation engineer, replies, “This is a new design adopted in the (2003) version of the Manual On Uniform Traffic Control Devices. We generally use one or the other, but there may be a locations where both types exist.
“The new sign is actually called a ‘Dead End Plaque. It is very
effective when the regular diamond-shaped sign is difficult to see until you’ve already turned onto the road. The plaque is normally mounted on the post with the street name sign to increase visibility of the sign to motorists on the cross street,” Jeff said.
While doing some ‘urban hiking’ with my wife we walked down a side street near the court house in Port Orchard only to discover the dead end sign at the very end with no way for cars to turn around. A resident working outside grumbled something about reporting it with negative results.