The in basket: Liz DuBois, who lives on one of the side streets along Marine Drive in Bremerton, wasn’t too impressed with my March column about the new school zone flashers just off Marine Drive on Rocky Point Road.
“O.K,” she wrote, “your column answered the question of ‘what are they,’ but now, where do they leave us? Are the residents on Marine Drive still being held hostage by the metal signs that inform us that this is a school zone 365+ days of the year?
“As long as those signs remain in place, I’m assuming drivers on Marine Drive are still restricted to 20 mph from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. every single day of the year,” she said. “Or will those signs come down, hopefully within our lifetime? Where does the restriction end on Marine Drive?
“We feel like hostages in our own city…and we’re tired of this! Who thought up this mess anyway?”
The out basket: Liz’ criticism of the column is well deserved, but I can bring a little good news this time around.
The Bremerton schools’ acquisition of money for the flashers has spurred the city to review the restriction, which Liz describes accurately. The school zone stretches from the church school a short distance from Kitsap Way all the way to the downgrade past Rocky Point Road. It’s the longest school zone I can recall.
The flashers impose the 20 mph zone where Marine Drive wraps around onto Rocky Point Road, and only when they are blinking.
The Marine Drive zone, on the other hand, is in effect nine hours a day, every day.
Gunnar Fridriksson, Bremerton’s managing street engineer, says, “Unless we receive a complaint, accident history, change in federal/state law, etc…, we tend to leave things be. What precipitated our review here was the school district receiving a grant to purchase the beacons. The last time we were out was about 8-10 years ago.
“As time is available, we are planning to return and make additional sign modifications to the existing. This will include a better definition of the school hours, including that they are Monday through Friday. Give us a couple more weeks, you should be seeing changes shortly.”
They aren’t likely to make the zone any shorter though, he said.
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