The in basket: Shawn from Silverdale, as he signed himself, says, “I have a concern about a left turn that is being made into the Starbucks parking lot on Bucklin Hill Road in Silverdale. I see drivers turning left into the parking lot between Starbucks and IHOP.
Now the way the little island is set up, it looks to be designed to enter as a right hand turn coming down the hill rather than a left going up. There are no turn markers on the pavement except for the left hand turn onto Bayshore Drive. Also to make the left turn into Starbucks, drivers cross over a double-yellow line.
“All the time I see many close calls with that turn and have even seen a couple cars almost hit head on. I have even seen oversized trucks make that turn while running over the curb in the process.
“I have been unable to turn left onto Bayshore Drive because the left turn is full of cars, backed up to go to Starbucks,” he said. “Is this an illegal left turn?
“Further up the road there was a turning curve barrier installed for Levin Road to prevent left turns from Levin. Is there a possibility of some sort of barrier installed by Starbucks that allows cars to turn onto Bayshore and prevent turning into Starbucks?
“There is a turning spot just about 100 feet past IHOP that goes into the same parking lot, (but) drivers just don’t use it. And I personally believe putting up a sign that says Do Not Enter might be something, but won’t help much, since most drivers are too distracted to see road signs and will still make that turn.
“I just have a feeling that this is going to be a bad accident waiting to happen,” he said.
The out basket: This complain echoes ones I’ve dealt with recently on Lund Avenue in Port Orchard, where right-in-right-out configurations make left turns into and out of them difficult, but not illegal. The turns Shawn is seeing also are legal.
Double-yellow lines don’t forbid a left turn, unless there is a raised barrier, crosshatching between the lines or a sign saying no left turn. There are none at this location.
Jeff Shea, traffic engineer for Kitsap County, says there will be a sign forbidding left turns.
“We recognized the issue before the Starbucks was built. We conditioned the developer to install a channelizing device at his approach. But, like similar devices, motorists either don’t recognize it as a turn restrictor or choose to make the left turn against the restriction. It is difficult to construct a true turn restrictor. The angle has to be so extreme that it forces traffic to practically do a U-turn. That takes up a lot of space and property.
“The property owner is aware of the restricted turn, so placing a barrier in the road is an option. The difficulty with a barrier is that it blocks turning movements in both directions. In this case it would restrict movements into Hop Jacks across the street. Hop Jacks doesn’t have any turning movement restrictions placed on it. This would restrict their only driveway entrance to a right-in-right-out only access.
“Our Community Development Division is talking to the Starbucks property owner about this issue. To make it clear, we will install a no-left-turn sign at the turning location.
‘The sign would have to go on the right side of the road. We may, depending on the success/failure of the right side sign, try to place another no-left-turn sign near the Starbucks entrance,” Jeff said.
So I saw a traffic jam at this turn just recently, there was cars backed up in both directions. One set of cars making the turn into starbucks at this backwards turn and then cars trying to turn left at Bayshore Drive.
I don’t see how a sign will work when it does not even work By the Fred Meyers. If one is traveling in the direction from Lowes towards Fred Meyers, just before the intersection that turns into the parking lot of Fred Meyers, there is a left turn that is only a one direction entrance and it even has a Do Not Enter sign put up. Yet all the time I see cars stop traffic there, because they stop there to make an illegal and dangerous left turn. Most bigger trucks will just run right over the island but cars do make that turn. And that island is way bigger than the one by Starbucks in Silverdale, so putting up a sign might prevent a couple cars from turning there.
But my question I have about the response written where it says that the restrictor angle has to be so extreme that it forces traffic to practically do a U-turn. Isnt that the point.