The in basket: Bill Slach of Port Orchard says some additional markings would reduce confusion and the possibility of accidents at a pair of Bremerton intersections.
“Heading south on Pacific where it meets Burwell,” he said, “I again witnessed a driver in the wrong (oncoming) lane, trying to align themselves with one of the three southbound lanes in front of them. An eastbound car on Burwell (who had a green light) wanted to turn north onto Pacific and had to stop abruptly.
“This is not the first time I have seen this,” Bill said. “It seems to occur when folks are headed to Second Street to pick of folks when the ferry comes in.
“Later that day,” he said, “heading south in the center lane on Warren at 11th, the car in front of me turned right onto 11th. As you know, that once was legal (and some) folks seem to have not forgotten. The car in the turn lane started to change lanes and ended up swerving up the hill.
“Couldn’t the city put directional arrows on the pavement at these particular intersections to clarify the traffic pattern for distracted or forgetful drivers?
The out basket: It looks to me that the Pacific and Burwell situation is worsened by a sign directing drivers to Second Street for ferry passenger loading and unloading. It hangs directly in front of the northbound, oncoming lane, giving the impression that that’s where a driver going to Second Street should be.
Moving the sign to the right with an angled arrow on it could help
And a straight ahead arrow on the through lane pavement of Warren at 11th would also be a cue that turning right from the inside lane no longer is allowed. So would a straight ahead arrow on the red and green signal lenses, but that would cost more.
Gunnar Fridriksson of the city street engineers says they have entered Bill’s observations for consideration, and added, “Please let your readers know we appreciate their input and will review the situation and will get back to them. We rely on citizens to let us know of issues and the best way of letting us know about them is through our first response team.” Email to PW_Utilities_CustomerResponse <bremerton1@ci.bremerton.wa.us or phone 360.473.5920 to reach them, he said.
You’ve totally confused me on the Burwell/Pacific intersection. South of Burwell, I could swear the three lanes of traffic on Pacific are all headed south, with the leftmost lane designated for traffic turning left on Second, or continuing around the corner past South Pacific to where they must turn left onto Washington, the center lane designated for ferry traffic, and the rightmost lane for transit to the ferry terminal. There is no “northbound” lane of Pacific on the south side of Burwell.
I think he’s saying a car was in the left (oncoming) lane here when someone was turning from E/B Burwell onto N/B Pacific. If you are looking directly at the sign, you’re in the wrong lane.
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