The in basket: Larry Bartholomew of Poulsbo wonders when work on Lincoln Avenue will be finished.
In an Oct. 29 e-mail he wrote, “Attached is an April 2014 letter from the City of Poulsbo regarding a project affecting a two-block area on either side of the intersection of Pugh Road and Lincoln Road.
“As you can see from the letter, this project is due to be completed by the end of October. There are two days left in October and it’s clear there is far more than two days’ worth of work to be done. In fact, given the pace of the work done so far, it looks like it will be months, rather than days, before the work will be completed.
“I understand that paving requires a minimum temperature, and we are quickly approaching a period of consistent lower temperatures. My guess is that paving may soon become problematic if temperature is an issue.”
He also was upset by the configuration of Lincoln and Pugh during the work. “The corner of the curbing creates a restriction of space for those entering Pugh from Lincoln, or vice versa, that appears barely large enough for two cars to pass in opposite directions. This will likely require those turning onto Pugh from Lincoln to come to almost a complete stop when there is a car waiting to turn onto Lincoln from Pugh.”
“I’m sure my neighbors and others who traverse Pugh and Lincoln roads would like to know when this project in now expected to be complete and what the thinking was that led to the significant narrowing of the entrance onto Pugh Road.”
The out basket: City Engineer Andrzej Kasiniak told me on Nov. 10 that they hoped to have the paving done by Thanksgiving, but there remains some to do. As Larry predicted, the weather is a growing impediment.
Michael Lund, chief inspector on the project provided an update this week.
“The Lincoln Road project is definitely behind schedule,” he said. “There were some unknown underground utilities that hampered the project early on and now the weather delays are definitely a concern.
“The contractor is Pacific Coast General from Port Orchard. They were able to get the first lift of asphalt on the road prior to Thanksgiving. The plan was to do some more paving at the Pugh intersection today and then start on the pervious bike lanes. The extreme cold temps have pushed that off a day or so but they are very hopeful to get one lift of asphalt on everything by the end of this week.”
“The concrete crews will start pouring sidewalk later this week, as well.
“The lighting crews are scheduled to install the rest of the street lights later this week and into next week. This will make it a lot nicer during the evening hours traveling the roadway.
“I received a revised schedule from the contractor today and they are trying to be completed before Christmas.
“There is still a lot of work to do and we are trying to get it done as soon as possible.”
He said finished paving and striping will make the turn at Pugh less of a problem.
“The intersection meets all safety standards and at the tightest point has 10-foot-wide lanes,” Mike said.. “However, with the road only being gravel at this time, (drivers) tend to shy away from the curb and encroach into the center of the lanes more than they will once the final paving is completed.
“With striping, it will help the (drivers) to understand where their lane is and allow for oncoming traffic to pass by.
“Part of the problem with this intersection is we do not have the right of way to make a wider intersection and still have pedestrian connectivity with the sidewalk. The existing roadway prior to construction pinched down to about 20 feet as well within the right of way. (But) the traveling public would turn, drive and park on the private property. This gave the illusion that there was more roadway out there than actually legally was.
“If any of the traveling public has concerns or comments they can email me at mlund@cityofpoulsbo.com.”
Lincoln Pugh intersection shown below
Guess what, Lincoln road is STILL NOT DONE. Will it ever be finished????