The in basket: As I pass by the work at 11th and Warren in Bremerton, where the intersection is undergoing major changes to provide more holding room for cars waiting at the lights at Warren, among other things, I had some questions.
Will replacement of the existing traffic signals allow the city to put yellow flashing left turn signals there, as it did when the current sewer replacement project provided money to do that on Sixth Street?
And will the center lane of eastbound 11th be changed to a left-turn and straight ahead lane, as was done at Sixth and Warren for the Manette Bridge replacement project, or will it remain with two left-onlys and the outside lane the only through lane?
The out basket: Gunnar Fridriksson of the city’s street engineers says yellow flashing left turn signals are a possibility at the revised intersection, but by no means a certainty.
“With the Crosstown Pipeline project, we were able to update all of the signal controllers on Sixth Street from Kitsap Way to Warren Avenue to be able to implement the flashing yellow as we needed to make the entire corridor more efficient for traffic,” he said.
“The signals along the Warren/Wheaton corridor are inter-tied from 11th Street to Riddell Road and are of an older controller that will not accommodate the yellow flashers. Putting yellow flashers at 11th and Warren would require removing the inter-tie with the other signals.” The inter-tie allows the signals to work together to move the most traffic
“There are a couple of options we are looking at, but no final decision has been made,” he said.
He also said no changes are planned as to where cars in the three eastbound lanes of 11th can go.
Having an extra lane at the 11th and Warren intersection will be a plus, that’s for sure. But what is happening at 11th and Naval? Shortly after the sewer work was paved over there seemed to be an odor in the area. Now I’m wondering if there was a leak in the pipework since it appears the area is being dug up. If there was a leak and it is being redone, who pays for that rework? I would hope we taxpayers are not footing the bill for repairing the poor workmanship.
And, when the college gets yet another private signal, will it be tied into the signal controllers that Mr. Fridrikkson mentions, or will it be on its own, yet another impediment to traffic flow on Warren?