The in basket: For what I’m sure is a lot interest in when Bethel Road in South Kitsap will be made more drivable, John Susan is the only one who has asked me about it in 2014. He was moved to follow up his April inquiry with another this fall when he noticed that Lund Avenue to the east of Bethel had just gotten some full-depth patching, often called dig-outs.
“They worked on Lund, which was much better off than Bethel,” he said, adding that just repairing the sunken manholes on Bethel would have been a better use of the money.
The out basket: Different jurisdictions, John. Port Orchard annexed the Bethel corridor a few years ago and has been searching for money to accomplish short- and long-term upgrades of Bethel, as well as the city’s double-round-about plan for Tremont Street.
The Lund Avenue patching was done by the county, The city limits end just west of Hoover Avenue.
News coverage of Port Orchard City Council budget talks that included money for Bethel Avenue said 2015 work will be at the Lund-Bethel intersection. I wondered how broad that would be defined and whether it would extend up to the Walmart traffic signal, where it seems the ride is the roughest.
Mark Dorsey, Port Orchard public works director, says, “The city will focus the 2015 asphalt repair work at Bethel-Lund, since this area will not be affected by future design modifications associated with the future Bethel corridor redesign.
“A complete grind and overlay is proposed. I do not have specific limits of yet, but it will not extend to Walmart. That will more than likely be 2016…and not a complete grind and overlay, but specific grind-outs with repair.
“The complete repair work is estimated at $1.7 million,” he said, “so the city needs to break the work up into affordable segments.”
