The in basket: When the roundabout Kitsap County built south of Silverdale was being planned, the county said it was a safety project that wouldn’t address congestion. I thought that an odd disclaimer based on my observations of other roundabouts.
Since the project was complete, I’ve been there at rush hour a couple of times and found the traffic to being flowing smoothly, with no more serious backups that I see at the Port Orchard roundabout, which I frequent more often.
Friends who live close by on Chico Way say they have the same impression, that congestion has lessened
I asked the county if their prediction before the project opened was just to keep expectations low or if the roundabout was exceeding their own expectations.
The out basket: Tina Nelson, the county public works senior program manager, says, “During the design phase we were honest with the public about what the project was intended to accomplish, and what it wasn’t going to accomplish, based on studies and data available.
“This was an intersection control/safety project. This project has met our expectations. It is a safer intersection. It is much easier and safer to get to and from Chico Way.
“Those were two of our objectives with the project. Another was to construct something that we didn’t need to re-construct when we address the capacity of the Silverdale Way corridor in the future.
“As for congestion relief with the new roundabout, we don’t see it. If there is perception out there that it has relieved congestion, great. Our impression is the roundabout functions well, and the public has grown accustomed to it. As the landscaping has established itself, it has become a pleasing and positive gateway as you enter Silverdale.”
What do you readers who frequent the roundabout daily at rush hour think?
For the most part, I agree the roundabout has improved access and traffic flow. The bottleneck now appears to be the stop light at the on/off ramp at Newberry Hill and HWY 3. During peak traffic hours, cars are backed up all the way to the roundabout.
I live on Chico. I have found that I have seen more close calls in traffic since the round about was put in. People coming down the hill don’t seem to feel they always need to yield to the traffic already in the maze. Back up coming from Chico doesn’t seem quite as bad, but coming out of Silverdale is still backed up quite a distance during rush hours.
I see back ups on the highway side and the silverale side. have they set timing for those 2 lights? or they could get rid of the light in silverale not allowing left turns in or out of that street (i forget the name) that would ease some of the congestion going that directions
I live in Port Orchard but travel to Silverdale often for shopping and business reasons. The Silverdale roundabout has been a blessing! The site was perfect for a roundabout and works perfectly. Cudos to the county for this one!
Get rid of that traffic light after the roundabout to Silverdale the one on Byron street make it a yield turn.
I also thought about adding a right hand turn lane to get on the highway from the round about…. would help a little too.
I travel it 2-3 times aweek around 4pm and it has been much better than before. The only slowdowns are the amount of traffic (light timing is bad), people who fail to signal when leaving the round about and the worst, people who stop when entering when it is NOT needed.
Over all GREAT job!