The in basket: As often as I have driven north on Warren Avenue in Bremerton from Burwell Street since the city took one northbound lane of Warren for a raised barrier, I hadn’t noticed a third break in the barrier at both Fourth and Fifth streets.

Crosswalks pass though two of the gaps at each intersection. But the third gap, running on an angle through the barrier, is a puzzlement. It doesn’t look like it adds anything to handling storm runoff.

The other day, I saw a motorcyclist drive through it during rush hour, stopping in the middle to let traffic clear so he could continue west on Fourth Street.

I asked it that is the intent and was it legal?

The out basket: No, says Gunnar Fridriksson of the city street engineers. The motorcyclist committed an infraction for which he could have been cited. But the gap IS for traffic – bicycle traffic – which can legally pass through it, Gunnar said. “It is diagonal to give additional storage space when they are stopped in the median.”

The in basket: Kitsap Way between Callow Avenue and Highway 3 in Bremerton has a variety of pavement markings for where bicyclists should ride, I noticed as I headed west on it.

There are short stretches of painted bike lanes, separated by stencil markings painted in the outside vehicle lane showing a bicycle with two chevrons over the cyclist’s head.

I’d seen them on Fauntleroy Avenue in Seattle after I got off the Southworth ferry the past couple of years. I wondered what the chevrons were meant to add to what clearly was a designation for where bicyclists should ride.

The out basket: The chevrons are evidently just an arbitrary design feature of what are called “sharrows,” an authorized marking under the 2009 federal Uniform Manual for Uniform Traffic Devices. It’s a play on words, I guess, melding arrows and share.

As a whole, the sharrows emphasize the need for cars and bikes to share that lane, as well as suggesting bicyclists use enough of the lane that they don’t get picked off by the driver’s side doors of parked cars whose drivers are getting out.

That’s an issue in Seattle, but there aren’t many places in Kitsap with bike lanes next to on-street parking.

“We striped areas where there was sufficient space for a bike lane,” said Gunnar Fridricksson of the Bremerton street engineers. “As you noticed, where there was not space, the sharrows were installed along with signage.”

They don’t alter the law regarding the relationship between motor vehicles and bikes (they must obey the same laws, generally). They just emphasize the Share the Road philosophy.

It occurred to me, though, that I didn’t know whether bike lanes alter that relationship – whether cars can drive in a bike lane. So I asked Trooper Russ Winger of the State Patrol here.

Russ said the term “sharrows’ was new to him, but he drove around looking at bike lanes and had this to say.

“Kitsap Way has several marked and signed bike lanes along it. The signs are black and white regulatory signs. They are also marked on the asphalt with white bike symbols.

“The roadway is of sufficient width to have a full travel lane and a bike lane. In these areas there is no reason for a vehicle to be in the bike lane. Most of the signs I observed said only ‘bike lane’ and depicted the bike symbol.

“At intersections with road ways and openings to businesses, the bike lane turned to skip lines, allowing a vehicle to cross. I would say that a vehicle traveling otherwise in the bike lane in this type of situation would be illegal, disobeying a restrictive sign to start. Infraction $124.

“This is a good example of local jurisdictions using their power to add restrictive signs and lanes to further restrict vehicle travel governed by RCW,” he said.

He also encouraged drivers to “pay more attention to the small road signs and lane markings. I learned a lot just by paying more close attention to them after you posed the question to me and I have driven and worked these roads for 24-plus years,” he said.

The in basket: I came across a five-year-old e-mail from Scott Frisbie, who said in 2008, “McWilliams Road by Rolling Hills could really use either a walkway or bike lane.

“It seems there is always a lot of pedestrian traffic walking at the edge of or on the roadway itself as the shoulders are extremely narrow.

“I don’t imagine it’s a priority, since the sides of the road would require a fair amount of excavating to be able to widen the roadway itself,” Scott said.

The out basket: Five years haven’t changed anything for the better in this regard, though I see more pedestrians walking on the north side of McWilliams on the eastbound upgrade from Highway 303 to the residential spurs  at the top than in front of the golf course.

Doug Bear of Kitsap County Public Works, replied, “I forwarded your note to Jim Rogers, who is putting together the Transportation Improvement Program for presentation to the (county commissioners later this year. He added your reader’s comments to the project file.” The program prioritizes road projects over the next six years.

“This is a good time to remind your readers that we always welcome suggestions for capital improvement projects,” Doug added. “They can submit ideas and learn more about the process at http://www.kitsapgov.com/pw/sixyear_tip.htm.”

In my experience, it’s rare for the county to take on a sidewalk project that isn’t part of a larger job, or required of a private developer as mitigation for adding traffic. On the other hand, bike and pedestrian lanes are very much in vogue these days, especially when seeking federal money.

The in basket: Deborah Moran e-mailed me in August, to say, “I have always been told/read that bicycles have the same rights and rules as cars. Today, as my husband and I were waiting to make a left turn from Highway 305 onto Bond Road in Poulsbo, a bicyclist passed a line of cars on the left and positioned himself in front of the first car in the turn lane. We all then had to pass him as we were making our turns. He did this again while we were waiting to make a left turn onto Viking.

“Now, if we did this in our car, we would be cited, I am sure, since cars are not allowed to drive between lanes and pass on the right. So, I am wondering, did this biker commit a traffic offense also? And if not, why not.

The out basket: We last addressed this question in late 2010 when a bicyclist asked if it could be done on Lindvig Way at Viking Way, just a short distance from where Deborah saw it. A Poulsbo city officer said then that the maneuver is illegal.

State Trooper Russ Winger agrees, saying,  “Bicyclists are required to follow the same rules of the road that motor vehicles are subject to. They are, however,  allowed to travel on the shoulder portion on the right, and could, effectively pass stopped vehicles as the bike approaches the signal or stop sign. They cannot however, then just move off of the shoulder in front of a stopped vehicle.

“The bicyclists cannot pass on the left in the same manner, passing vehicles that are stopped and waiting to turn left or right – moving to the front of the pack so to speak.

“Bicyclists need to signal properly and obey proper traffic movement and signal devices. They do not have the ‘right of way’ by the simple fact of being a bicycle.

Bicyclists can ride two abreast, essentially sharing a lane with another bicyclist, in any lane accessible to cars, as motorcycles can, as well, Russ said. A bike is not allowed next to a motorcycle in a lane, though.

The full limitations and requirements are listed under RCWSs 46.61.750 through 46.61.790 if anyone is interested,” he added..