The in basket: Joe Haptas writes, “At the present
time the county is spending a large amount of money on the
improvements at the junction of McWilliams Road and Old Military in
Central Kitsap. Those of us who use this road, wonder
why.
“Some funds do need to be spent on Riddell Road
between Wheaton Way and Pine Road. This section of the road has to
be the worst washboard road in Central Kitsap and needs to be
repaved. I believe the road is split between the city of Bremerton
and the county and the county side is the worst side.
“Do you know of any plans to repave this short
section?”
The in basket: The fact that portion of Riddell
serves as the boundary between the city and county seems to be
confusing things, but both entities have hopes to repave it this
summer.
Doug Bear of county public works says, “The county
side of that area is scheduled to be repaved this summer.”
Chal Martin, the city’s public works director, said
this week, “We are still hoping to coordinate our effort with
Kitsap County and get this segment repaved this summer. I
would say it is 50/50 as I write this response.”
I’ve asked intermittently how responsibility for
maintenance and reconstruction is decided with streets and roads
that serve as a boundary, as Riddell does, and never got a very
clear answer. Reading between the lines of the two responses above,
I’d guess the answer isn’t crystal clear to anyone.
As for the McWilliams/Old Military work, the reason
was mentioned in a front page Kitsap Sun story Tuesday. It is
prompted by 16 accidents at the intersection in the past five
years, and hopes to prevent future ones with a left turn lane
on eastbound McWilliams.
