The in basket: Christine Larsen of Lake Helena Road writes, “My
concern is about Glenwood Road (in South Kitsap). With the death on
that road (in November), I have counted at least 7-8 deaths in
separate accidents of mostly young people since I moved here in
1997. That just seems like a high rate for a country road. Every
time it happens, I wonder if someone is going to look into why it’s
so frequent.
“I’d be very interested,” Christine said, “to breakdown the causes
of the fatalities on Glenwood in the last 20 years or so and
attempt to determine what the dangerous factors are. Obviously
speed is one of them. I am guessing the curvy road and large trees
are another, but is there anything else that these accidents have
in common?
Also curious if the road department has any idea of what could
help. Barriers on corners? A safer wall than the large brick one
where Glenwood T’s with Lake Flora? Slower speeds? More warning
signs?”
The out basket: Jeff Shea, traffic engineer for Kitsap County,
which owns the road, says, “We have collision records back to
1992. Between then and now our records show nine fatal
collisions with 10 fatalities along the eight miles of Glenwood
Road. This does not include the most recent collision.
“’Had been drinking’ was noted on the collision report for six
of the nine reported collisions. Excessive speed was also
listed on some of them. Five of the collisions were
run-off-the-roads at curves and straightaways, and only one of
those didn’t involve alcohol. Two collisions involved a
motorist pulling out in front of another vehicle, and in both of
those cases alcohol was involved.
“Except for the Lake Flora intersection, there is no other
location where more than one fatal collision occurred.
In 2004 and then again in 2009 motorists failed to stop for the
Lake Flora stop sign and fatally crashed into the concrete block
wall. Neither driver had been drinking. There were no
skid marks noted on the collision reports, so there is no
indication the drivers made an attempt to stop before hitting the
wall.
“The intersection has a large conspicuous stop sign and advanced
warning stop ahead sign, along with street lighting at the
intersection. Since the drivers died at the scene, it was
impossible to determine why they missed the stop sign.
“The block wall is there to support a large cut slope on which a
house sits not too far from the wall. Cutting the slope back
significantly would require moving the house.
“Furthermore, I am not certain we could build a wall of any
material that would prevent a fatality if struck by a car going 40
mph.”
Glenwood Road is listed on the county Transportation Improvement
Program for $2.6 million in improvements to include widening it,
paving its shoulders and intersection improvements, between
Wildwood and JH roads, to be done in 2016.
Previous work, in 2004, was done between JH Road and Lider Road,
included widening of the travel lanes to 12 feet, eight-foot
shoulders, six feet of which are paved, some flattening of rises in
the travel lanes, and a two-way turn lane between Lake Flora and
Lider. It included storm water management and fish passage
enhancement work, too.
“Every two years we evaluate our collision records and determine
trouble spots,” Jeff said. “We evaluate the high accident locations
for safety improvements such as signs, lighting and guardrail just
to mention a few safety measures we use.”
