Road Warrior

The in basket: Jim Civilla and Julie Jones have asked about the deteriorating appearance of plantings along Highway 304 in Bremerton.

Jim wrote, “A couple of years ago the Navy Yard Highway was completely changed.  Businesses uprooted, roads changed…in an effort to make the gateway into Bremerton more appealing.
“But, from the Highway 3 interchange all the way to the shipyard is anything but beautiful. The weeds have taken over on both sides of the road as well as the middle barrier.
“Who is responsible now for maintaining???” he asked. “And why isn’t it being done?”
Julie focused on another part of that highway, including the curb protrusions at Burwell Street intersections.

“They keep the downtown area near the ferry terminal looking fantastic,” she wrote. “I love it down there. But I am wondering what their plans are concerning other very visible, and what I would consider important, parts of town - roads that visitors take to get into town.
“Specifically I am asking if they have any plans for maintenance along Burwell, especially those bump-outs, and the median along the shipyard.  Those areas are an embarrassing disgrace.  The median is so overgrown and full of weeds, and I spotted a very healthy blackberry bush in one of the bump-outs near State Street. on Burwell.
“Did the city not realize those plants would grow?  Or that weeds might invade those areas?  Maybe they should have invested in silk plants!
“If they can’t maintain the bump-outs, they ought to pull out all the vegetation and fill them in with concrete.  At least an unsuspecting passerby won’t get snagged by a thorny blackberry vine.

“And as for the median in front of the shipyard, the one that looked so great when they put it in a few years ago…please tell me they have a plan to get out there and clean up that mess.”

The out basket: I saw a city crew cleaning up a short stretch of the weeds near Kitsap Transit a few weeks ago, but the overgrowth is the dominating feature of that landscaping.

Gunnar Fridriksson of the city street engineers says,  “This is a little frustrating for me personally, as well, having been involved with the design and construction of the corridor, watching it be reduced to weeds, overgrown shrubs and litter.

“The city is responsible for maintenance of the landscaping along Highway 304 from the ferry terminal to the interchange with Highway 3.

“The landscaping installed with the various 304 projects was based on citizen input from public outreach meetings during the design phase at a time when the city was more able to handle this maintenance.  The city has seen significant budget/staff reductions over the last few years from the park and street departments and this work is low priority (compared) to park maintenance and street repairs.

“There have recently been a few volunteer groups who have contacted the city and expressed an interest in helping maintain these areas, and we are coordinating with them.  If there are additional readers, or a business, who would like to help in this effort, we can provide information on the groups so that they could join in.”

The engineers’ phone number is (360) 473-5270.

The in basket: Nancy Thayer of Bremerton wrote to say, “I noticed that when driving south on Park,  there is no left turn allowed onto Burwell.  What is the reasoning behind that?  I could understand if cars traveling on Park had a stop sign rather than a light, but since they do have a light it seems silly not to allow them to turn left.”

She also wonders if the flashing yellow turn signals on Sixth Street will be kept when the detour around the 11th Street sewer project closure that prompted there installation ends in August.

“I hope not because it is such a pain to have to wait in a left turn lane when nothing is coming toward you,” she said.

The out basket: Gunnar Fridriksson of the Bremerton street engineers says the left-turn prohibition at the south end of Park is temporary and construction related, but not the 11th Street work.

“The construction in Park Avenue (a block north) cut the traffic (detectors) for this movement so there was no way for the signal to detect vehicles,” he said.”We did not want to put this signal on timed cycle and have it conflict with outgoing ferry traffic, so a quick and simple fix was to prohibit the movement – especially as the roadway has been closed most of the time with construction.

“With the construction nearly complete, we should be removing the restriction here shortly.”

As I’ve reported here before, the yellow flashing left turn lights, installed with money that came from the sewer project to facilitate movement on the designated detour, will be kept in service when 11th Street reopens.

The in basket: Mike Burton writes, “The city of Bremerton has put a lot of effort and expense into making the roads and sidewalks in the downtown area and, specifically, Pacific Avenue look very nice, and they plan to continue that north of Sixth Street on Pacific.

“As they were doing all of this,” Mike said, “the city purposely worked around a section of the sidewalk between Second Street and Burwell Avenue on the east side of Pacific. That section looks awful compared to everything else the city has done.

“Is there an explanation? Are there any plans to ‘fix’ that so that it conforms with all of the surrounding sidewalks?”

“Mostly the problem is aesthetic,” he conceded, ” but it is a bit uneven, especially where the patches and the ‘tar’ that they use for sealing meet, compared to the rest of the sidewalk around it. It just looks ridiculous, considering the city’s efforts to make all this look so nice!”

The out basket: Gunnar Fridriksson of the city engineering staff says, “That ‘sidewalk’ is actually the top for a very large vault that houses the electrical servicing the Harborside Commons garage (the old JC Penney building).

“WIth the tunnel project, we did look at trying to either have it replaced or resurfaced to make it more presentable.  Unfortunately, due to the way it was constructed, we were unable to find an economical way of doing so that met with the state’s schedule for the completion of the improvements.

“Depending on what happens with the building, there may be an opportunity in the future for improvement. ”

The in basket: Ian Logan suggests lengthening the one-way portion of Pacific Avenue in Bremerton.

“Change the 300 block of Pacific Avenue, one block north of Burwell, from two-way to one-way-only southbound,” he wrote. “Pacific Avenue is already one-way southbound immediately south of its intersection with Burwell as it approaches the ferry terminal and the southern portion of downtown.

“The 300-block of Pacific has very poor center-striping right now (faded and far too hard to see), and I have on more than one occasion seen southbound traffic in what is supposed to be the northbound lane immediately north of Burwell.

“This change would have no negative effect on downtown traffic and would provide a safer and more easily navigated approach to the ferry terminal,” Ian said.

The out basket: Gunnar Fridriksson of the city of Bremerton street engineers says he appreciates the input, adding, “There are times that a citizen looking at a situation provides a solution that we had not previously thought of.

“In this case,” Gunnar said, ” the city has looked at several scenarios for downtown, including making Washington Avenue and Pacific Avenue (one-way in opposite directions).  This dates back to the ’60′s or so when the city starting really running into parking and circulation problems.

“Businesses have typically not embraced one-way streets due to perceived problems with customers getting to the business.  Studies on one-way versus two-way streets have found both have their merits and problems, but it really boils down to a personal preference/bias.

“We do have a downtown circulation plan that has been indefinitely shelved for now, but I will include (Ian’s suggestion)  into the file for when we pick it back up,” he concluded..

The in basket: Ric Logg sent an e-mail back in May asking if I’d heard any rumors of a left-turn arrow being added to the light at Pacific and Burwell (in Bremerton).

“The buses get jammed up in the morning commute to the ferry terminal,” he said. “Kinda stinks having to sit through two lights waiting for a break so the bus can make a left-hand turn and get to the ferry terminal.”

The out basket: I wouldn’t expect a change in the signal at that intersection, for lack of money, but there is hope of a change as regards the buses.

That left turn carries buses and all other traffic onto a one-way street leading downhill to the terminal. As I’ve written often before, a little known state law allows a left turn against a red light where no sign prohibits it, but only onto a one-way street and only after coming to a complete stop and yielding to conflicting traffic.

Kitsap Transit executive John Clauson turns out to be among those who had never heard of the law. (Some police officers also hadn’t and have ticketed Road Warrior readers for making such a turn, for whom I’ve interceded twice to get the ticket dismissed).

John said he’ll look into the law and it’s applicability to transit vehicles, so it’s possible Kitsap Transit drivers will be made aware of it and be allowed to make the turn against red in the future.

I’m not sure whether traffic flow will provide many chances for those turns during morning rush hours. It also sounds like Ric’s complaint addresses times when the Burwell light is green, not red, and it’s oncoming traffic that keeps the buses from proceeding.

It’s not much of a problem just now anyway, Ric tells me, as the closure of the Manette Bridge has reduced traffic on Burwell at Pacific.

The in basket: Dennis Halstead is the latest reader to question why the traffic signal on Burwell Street at Warren Avenue in Bremerton isn’t friendlier to drivers heading toward downtown. They have to wait for a red light to change until long after westbound Burwell drivers get a green light.

“Why is (it), whether it’s east- or westbound on Burwell … that both directions don’t have the light synchronized to either go or stop?” he asked. “This does not make any sense to me that one lane is allowed to proceed when the other lane is stopped burning fuel.”
The out basket: The state had temporary jurisdiction over the signals at that intersection in the weeks after the downtown ferry tunnel was finished to make sure traffic flowed easily through the tunnel.

A state official explained at the time that the eastbound light stayed red to allow any westbound driver who wanted to turn left into the small parking lot on the south side of Burwell to make the turn. There’s no turn pocket there, so a westbound driver waiting for oncoming traffic to clear would cause traffic exiting the ferry to back up behind him.

The state now defers to the city on control of that signal, as it normally does on signals on state highways inside a city. But no change is imminent.

“No decision has been made at this point,” says Jeff Collins head of the city’s signal shop. “We are aware of the complaint but until we have money and or staff to make modifications we will leave it as is.

“It would require reprogramming of the signal controller, addition of a no-left-turn sign, and removal of the traffic head with left-turn arrow and replaced with standard three-section head,” he said.

The in basket: A lot of people use the time they spend sitting at the red light on eastbound Burwell Street at Warren Avenue in Bremerton wondering why they have to sit there. The inside lane, dedicated to those wanting to turn left onto Warren, obviously must be stopped while westbound Burwell traffic has the green light. But the only conflict with those in the outside lane, who can only go straight,  is the extremely rare car turning left into a parking lot there.

Jeff David and H.W. Slach are among those to write saying those infrequent left turns could be made to yield to oncoming traffic – or be prohibited altogether – so the eastbound Burwell traffic could have a green light and wouldn’t have to wait for both lanes to get a green light.

Jeff said, “If the curb lane was given a green light eastbound (make the center lane left-only to East Bremerton and make it red), while the ferry traffic is going west, it would move more traffic to the ferry and downtown.

“I have watched the eastbound traffic and very few go straight in the center lane,” he said. ”I am sure our city light engineers could make the light changes.”

The out basket: Back last fall, Project Engineer Brenden Clarke of the state’s downtown ferry tunnel project said they tried that, but two years of nothing but left turns from both lanes while the tunnel was being built had created some driver expectations that created collision hazards.

I asked if the passage of time might make it safer now to let that outside eastbound lane go when westbound traffic has the green light, and he said the tunnel has been finished long enough that’s now the city of Bremerton’s call.

And the city might do it, but only as part of broader review. It has a downtown traffic study coming up that might result in some changed traffic flows – making Fourth Street one-way eastbound is the change most often mentioned.

The study won’t deal with Burwell, but city street engineer Larry Matel says, “The city does have a modest amount of funds in our budget that could be used for traffic signal optimization in the Burwell corridor from downtown to Callow and on to Highway 3.

“This effort would be outside of the current downtown effort and would most likely begin after the downtown effort is completed, probably this fall.”

The in basket: Darrell Franks of Union e-mailed to say, “I wonder if you can find out what’s going on with traffic signal timing at the intersections of Burwell and Montgomery, and Burwell and Callow (in Bremerton).

The lights are badly mis-timed, causing traffic to back up terribly after 4 p.m., when shipyard traffic becomes heavy.

“As they are timed now,” Darrell said, “the Montgomery light will be green while the Callow light is red, which does no good at all. When the Callow light turns green, the Montgomery light goes red, which allows a relative handful of traffic to move from Burwell onto Callow.

“This problem began about three weeks ago, and I expected it to be solved by now,” he said.

The out basket: I don’t find myself in commuter traffic much anymore, being retired, but I had seen exactly what Darrell described twice this month at shipyard quitting time. I hit the backup on Burwell back at Olympic Avenue and watched the odd signal changes as I crawled forward. I wondered if it was always that bad.

Jeff Collins of the city of Bremerton signal shop said Darrell made a good call on when the problem started.

About two or three weeks ago his shop changed the batteries and reset the clocks in the controllers that keep the lights more or less in sync, he said..

‘I found one of the intersections exactly one minute off on the clocks,” he said Wednesday. It should be better now.

“Thanks for the heads up,” he said, a commendation that really should go to Darrell. I’m surprised he’s the only one who complained.

The in basket: Nancy Thayer, Lindsey Skelly, Michael Burton and Barney Bernhard have all contacted me in March about the traffic signal at Burwell Street and Pacific Avenue in Bremerton. 

Nancy asks, “Since the road work is going to go on for some time and Pacific is closed to traffic, why is the light at Burwell operating per usual rather than an alternate means?  It seems ridiculous for traffic on Burwell to have to sit and wait at a red light for nonexistent cross traffic.”

Lindsey makes the same point, adding that Burwell traffic is also heavier than normal because drivers that normally access the ferry on Pacific now must use Burwell.

Michael was upset that the pedestrian signal for those wanting to cross Burwell on the west side of Pacific isn’t working. “Since the signal is set to green all the time for Burwell (understandable), there is no way to stop traffic in order to cross safely,” he said. “I actually dashed across between vehicles and pressed the button for the people waiting on the other side, because, otherwise, they would have had to wait until someone at one of the other three corners activated the light.” 

Barney wondered why westbound Burwell drivers who stop for a red light and want to turn left don’t do it when traffic allows. He is aware that left turns on red are permissible if onto a one-way street, and the turning driver comes to a full stop first and yields to any traffic or pedestrians with a green or walk light.

One recent morning, he said, he was stuck behind six cars wanting to turn left toward the ferry terminal, who sat through the red light before turning. 

The out basket: Obviously, there is some confusion about what that light was doing during the closure of Pacific for construction. I see that it occasionally is reopened with a sandwich board stop sign at Burwell while it awaits final paving, but here is what has been happening.

Michael’s point hints at the answer to Nancy and Lindsey’s question. Pedestrians still can activate a red light to cross Burwell on the east side. Eduardo Aban, the city’s project engineer for the Pacific work, said the traffic detection equipment that ordinarily detects cars coming south on Pacific and changes the Burwell light to red for that reason is turned off. 

But Michael is correct that the pedestrian signals on the west side of the intersection aren’t working, because of the construction.

Eduardo said they will bag the pedestrian signals for that crosswalk until they are operating again, and pedestrians will have to walk east across Pacific, then across Burwell on the east side. That will be enough for many of them, and they can just proceed straight. If they just have to get to the other corner on the west side of Burwell, they’ll have to make a third crossing to get there. 

That might seem an annoying inconvenience, but it’s not unheard of. Some intersections outside the city require that kind of three-corner crossing to minimize  vehicle delays by eliminating one pedestrian movement. That’s how it is on Mile Hill Drive at Jackson Avenue and at Woods Road over where I live in South Kitsap. 

I had to tell Barney that it’s rare for a driver to know of the law allowing red turns against a red light onto a one-way street, so it’s not surprising that most won’t do it. All it takes is the lead car wanting to turn left to hold up even those behind  who know the turn can be made legally after stopping and when no conflicting traffic is coming.

The in basket: Dennis Van Ieperen, one of those who crosses Burwell Street many days on his way to work at Naval Base Bremerton said the next intersection east of State Street, where a traffic signal has just been installed for pedestrian safety, needs some revisions.

A Navy person was hit and badly hurt there this winter, he noted. It’s the Chester Avenue intersection.

Visibility of pedestrians is reduced there by a tree and shrubbery that fill what is called a bulb-out, a widening of the sidewalk that lessens the distance to cross the street, he said. Worsening the situation is the position of the street light right above the tree and the fact the pedestrian warning sign on that side of Burwell is farther back from the street edge that its counterpart for westbound traffic.

“You are supposed to detect a pedestrian in the dark behind the bushes and that tree,” he said. “Why is it still there?”.

The out basket: Colen Corey, the acting public works operations manager for the city of Bremerton, replies, “I agree that there is some

vegetation there, however there are 3 signs there indicating a crosswalk

that can be seen from a reasonable distance.

“We at public works are very sensitive to the controversial nature of cutting or removing vegetation from the right of way, but we always strive to do the prudent thing. Currently,

some slight pruning of the shrubbery will be performed to enhance

visibility, but there are no plans to add to or reposition existing

signs at this time.”

Colen included the accompanying photo to support his position.