Tag Archives: Lund

Entering via a designed exit

The in basket: A Road Warrior column in April that questioned the legality of turning left across the double yellow lines on Lund Avenue/Tremont Street in Port Orchard into the shopping area that includes Auto Zone brought a response from Robert Martin, who noted that the exact same alignment exists across that street at the Puerto Vallarta restaurant.

Drivers turn left across the double yellow lines going in both directions, where they meet a right-in-right-out alignment that makes it easier to turn into the half of that alignment intended for cars that are leaving.

Is that legal, he wondered.

The out basket: I wrote at the time that left turns are legal across double yellow lines unless there is a raised barrier, a yellow line 18 inches wide or wider, cross-hatching between the lines, or signs saying No Left Turn. None of those thing exist in either direction at that spot on the street. The turns, though often difficult and risky, are legal.

I wasn’t able to learn then whether turning into a roadside access designed to be an exit constitutes a traffic infraction.

So I asked again.

Commander Dale Schuster of Port Orchard police replied, “Both of these access driveways are on private property so there is no traffic violation, hence no infraction.”

The answer would be different where the access is publicly owned, which  is hard to determine when in motion. So those who do it risk a ticket in some locations, just not those two.

Odd left turns on Lund raise a question

 

The in basket: Ron Galla of Port Orchard asks whether the numerous drivers he sees turning left across the double yellow line on westbound Lund Avenue just west of Bethel Road are committing a violation.

“When these cars have to stop and wait to cross the double yellow lines because of oncoming traffic, it creates a real hazard to the cars behind them, some times slamming on their brakes,” he said.

“There is nowhere for these cars in the rear to go, as both lanes are usually full of traffic coming off of the Bethel/Lund intersection heading west.

“Then it is also a hazard when they finally cross the double yellow lines because of oncoming traffic, traveling east toward Bethel, not expecting someone to cross in front of them.”

Ron suggests a barrier of pylons like the one preventing left turns out of the Port Orchard Post Office as a solution to the hazard.

“By the way,” he added, “the entrance / exit to that parking lot is not designed to allow this turn, nor is it designed to allow traffic exiting to cross over the double yellow lines and continue west on Lund Avenue

The out basket: I was a little surprised by the question, as the long lines of would-be left turners in the eastbound left turn pocket to head toward downtown there, often spilling out into the inside through lane, are a lot more noticeable than left turners going the other way. I guess just after the green cycles on the signal at Lund there are opportunities to cross the double yellow lines to reach Auto Zone and the other businesses in there.

Ron starts with a common misconception, that left turns across double-yellow lines are illegal.

They are legal in most cases. Double yellow lines prohibit passing, but not turning left.

None of the exceptions that would make the turns illegal – painted or raised cross-hatching between the lines, a raised curb, an 18-inch-wide or wider painted line, or signs saying or depicting “No Left Turn – are present there.

The access configuration designed for right turns in and right turns out make left turns difficult, but not illegal.

Commander Dale Schuster of Port Orchard police says, “Many more vehicles are exiting the parking lot to turn left onto westbound Lund Avenue than those waiting to turn into the lot from westbound Lund Avenue. I do not believe we have responded to a traffic accident at that location due to turning traffic.”

Suspected malfunctioning left turn signal wasn’t

The in basket: Dave Sander asks, “Who do I call about a malfunctioning left-turn light.The light at Jackson and Lund, going north on Jackson, lets only two cars through, maybe 3 if they are quick, then it goes to blinking yellow.”

The out basket: That’s a Kitsap County signal, and when they malfunction, call (360) 337-5777 to report it.

But that signal is operating as intended. It provides a short period of green at the start of each left-turn cycle, during which the turners don’t have to worry about opposing traffic and no pedestrians in their path have a walk light. Then the light goes to flashing yellow, during which time left turners still can go, but they have to yield to oncoming traffic and pedestrians.

The only other time I have written about this particular aspect of the flashing yellows was when the one at the Walmart on Bethel Avenue in Port Orchard DIDN’T provide a short period of green one holiday season. The heavy shopping traffic didn’t provide many breaks in traffic for the left turns on yellow. It was supposed to have the green phase and the county fixed it.

A theory about Bethel Avenue’s roughness

The in basket: Charles Dick has a theory about why Bethel Avenue, now undergoing a maintenance project by the city of Port Orchard, is so terribly rough.

“Just after the county installed the new sewer line,” he said. “There was an earthquake that caused a lot of the man holes to sink.  They have been a problem ever since, with many repairs, but to no avail.  The earthquake probably separated the pipe joints, allowing soil to seep into the line, thus causing settling around the manholes.

“The road is really bad throughout the whole of the northbound lane,” he said. “It would seem that any repair will be major, in order to fix those man holes and pipe joints before the road base is repaired.  Has anyone looked into that problem and do you know of any plans to fix them?”

The out basket: The sewer lines and manholes are the property of West Sound Utility District, which says the mains are fine, and that the poor condition of the manholes has nothing to do with an earthquake.

Brett Winters, operations manager for the district, says, “West Sound Utility District installed the sewer main on Bethel Road in 1999. The sewer main and manhole locations are based on the proposed road improvements by Kitsap County.”

Since then, Port Orchard has annexed the road and its surroundings and that’s why it’s the one making pavement repairs on a portion of it this summer

“The manholes are normally placed in the center of the road to avoid traffic driving over them,” Brett continued. “The center of the proposed road placed the manholes temporarily in the wheel path of northbound vehicles on the existing road. The high volume of traffic driving across the manhole covers has caused the adjustment rings between the top of the concrete manhole structure and the cover at the road surface to break down. The cover then sinks below the surface of the asphalt as the adjustment rings degrade.

“The district has replaced the adjustment rings on the manholes several times over the years but the long-term fix is to move the manholes out of the wheel path of vehicles. We are working with the city of Port Orchard during their planning process to improve the Bethel Corridor. The alignment of the driving lane should move the wheel path off the manholes providing a long-term fix for the problem.

“The District has an aggressive sewer maintenance program that provides for inspecting all manholes, televising, inspecting and jet cleaning all sewer mains,” Brett said. “The pipe and manhole structures are in excellent condition and we are confident that the realignment of the driving lanes will stop the rapid deterioration of the adjustment rings.”

Mark Dorsey, Port Orchard’s public works director, said the work going on now is what he calls “mills and fills,” in which degrading pavement and subgrade are ground out and replaced between Mitchell Avenue and Vallaire Court on Bethel Avenue and between Cathie Lane and Carl Pickel Drive on Lund Avenue, with a new overlay of the Lund/Bethel intersection itself. The subgrade repairs can be more extensive and include use of a geotextile fabric, he said.

More mills and fills along the rest of the Bethel corridor are planned in 2016 and 2017.

The city must redesign the long-term improvement, which it will begin doing in 2018. “The actual Bethel Corridor reconstruction project is currently scheduled for 2025,” Mark said.

Lund Avenue to get new signal, but not at Hoover and not this year

The in basket: Ken Richards e-mailed to ask, “Whatever happened to the traffic light that was going to be installed this summer at the corner of Hoover Avenue and Lund Avenue. by East Port Orchard Elementary School?

“I believe it was suppose to be safer for bus traffic as they returned to their barn and the children (pedestrians) walking on the side of the road and crossing. Or did the roads department/county council decide that people are replaceable and the buses were getting old anyway?”

The out basket: I hadn’t heard of such a plan and the county says there isn’t one. Ken may be thinking of plans for a new traffic signal at Harris Road and Lund, a short distance east of Hoover’s intersection. Or maybe not. Harris doesn’t provide much of an access to and from the school bus compound.

“There was no traffic signal planned for Hoover and Lund,” says Jeff Shea, county traffic engineer. “It does not meet the warrants for a signal. The Lund and Harris intersection remains on the TIP and is warranted by the increase in traffic at that intersection.”

But even that one isn’t proposed for this year. It’s on the county’s six-year road plan (called the TIP) for 2018 at a cost of $715,000.

Lund, Bethel due some pavement work. Lund and Harris to get stoplight

The in basket; As I drove east on Lund Avenue away from Bethel Road in South Kitsap recently, I noticed fairly severe “alligatoring,”  the irregular cracks that develop in an aging roadway. The roughness in front of Safeway is what caught my eye in the first place, and I noticed it continued to a lesser degree all the way to in front of the West Sound Utility complex.

I looked at the county’s six-year plan for capital improvements, called the TIP and extending out six years, but found nothing that mentioned Lund except a new traffic signal at Lund and Harris Road in 2015. I asked the county if it thought that portion of Lund will last more than six years without being repaved.

The out basket: Paving isn’t a capital project so doesn’t appear on the TIP, said Doug Bear of county public works. There are lists of both repaving and  chip seal projects planned for this year viewable online at the county’s Web site, divided into North, Central and South Kitsap projects.

It’s not shown online yet, but the county’s worn stretch of Lund is due repaving next year, he said, except for the last few hundred yards before one reaches Bethel Road heading west, where the road’s condition first caught my eye. That has been annexed to the city of Port Orchard. Mark Dorsey, city public works director, says they hope to find money for dig-outs and patching work there and along the rest of the Bethel Corridor next year. Anything more substantial is years away, he said.

The county’s six-year-TIP can be seen at www.kitsapgov.com/pw/pdf/2013-2018_TIP.pdf. The 2013 paving and chip seal plans are at www.kitsapgov.com/pw/roadpave.htm and www.kitsapgov.com/pw/roadchipseal.htm, respectively.

I can’t use up a lot of space saying what paving is planned this year, but I  can tease you by saying parts of Clear Creek Road, Angeline Avenue, Suquamish Way, Ridgetop Boulevard, Gold Creek Road, Pioneer Road, Price Road, Harlow Drive, Spruce Road, Collins Road, Converse Avenue and Beach Drive are on the list, along with many others. Look them up if you’re interested.

A couple of definitions to close: Chip seals are pavings done by pouring gravel on hot oil spread on the old pavement. Dig outs involve grinding out a few inches of deteriorated pavement in rectangles, and filling the holes with new asphalt.

Lund Avenue lane markings are completed

The in basket: Tom Wetterlind in June said “If you are on Tremont Street (in Port Orchard) and go over the overpass and start up the hill on the other side, there are cuts made in the road when they repaired it. There is a ton of them, In evening in the rain, they all look like centerlines. When you get up to the top when it becomes Lund (Avenue), the slashes all run parallel to the road.”

The out basket: This was an issue last winter and spring after heavy sanding and plowing during the winter snow siege took off most of the lane reflectors and stripes. The sealant that creates the reflections to which Tom objects increased the uncertainty about where the edges of the lanes were.

Since then Kitsap County has restriped its portion of that street (completion of the portion inside Port Orchard’s city limits is pending) and used a newly acquired grinding machine to create recesses into which the lane reflectors have been put so that snow plows blades skim over them and don’t pop them off. 

That’s all the county plans to do there to delineate the lanes, says Doug Bear of the county public works staff, so those who still are confused by the shine off the sealant will have to use the lane stripes and recessed reflectors to be sure they aren’t straddling lanes.