The in basket: I took Bucklin Hill Road in Silverdale the other day just to check out the new power poles that were installed, closing that major thoroughfare to traffic for much of a recent week.
I noticed that each has an array of three arms at their tops with no wires suspended from them. Three lower arms carry the wires the smaller poles on each side of the new ones carry.
I wondered if Puget Sound Energy was planning way into the future or perhaps a power upgrade is coming.
The out basket: Akiko Oda of PSE says six more new poles are coming to Bucklin Hill Road in March, and they’ll match the poles installed during the closure. The three upper arms then will be put to use.
The remaining work will require closing only one lane, she said, with flaggers directing alternating traffic through the closure.
That still leaves a year of complete closure where Bucklin Hill Road crosses Clear Creek beginning this July. The recent closure served as a test of how drivers will adjust to that.
I stayed away from the area of the closure while it was happening, but the traffic between Highway 303 and Costco uphill from it didn’t seem much affected. Nor did I hear much of an outcry from drivers. What say you, readers?
