The in basket: Craig Reynolds says speeding is particularly bad on Old Military Road between McWilliams and Fairgrounds roads in Central Kitsap, especially at rush hour.

Both directions are bad between 3:30 and 6 p.m., he said. He presumes it to be commuter traffic not wanting to use Highway 303 for whatever reason.

Many are motorcycles and kids with loud exhausts, he said. He thinks residents of the housing on Pine Road regard it as an option to 303 when heading toward Silverdale.

They get up to 45 to 60 mph in the 35 mph zone, he said.

He wonders how the neighbors might score one of the “Your Speed Is…” signs, such as the one in the dip on McWilliams Road just east of where Old Military intersects it. That sign really seems to slow drivers down, he said.

Frankly, that sign annoys me, as it flashes “slow down” if you’re even a mile over the 25 mile-per-hour speed limit, which is hard to avoid on the downgrade leading to it. I prefer the one Port Orchard has on Mile Hill that blinks your speed if you’re over the limit, and flashes red-blue, simulating a police car, if you’re more than 5 over.

The out basket: Jeff Shea, Kitsap County’s traffic engineer says, “Residents can request speed radar signs from Public Works by calling Kitsap1 (360.337.5777).

“Our traffic investigator completes a thorough study to determine if the sign is warranted. The study includes looking at the number of vehicles that are routinely exceeding posted speed limits.

Jeff said, “The radar signs are reserved for higher functional road classifications that do not qualify for speed bumps or other traffic calming devices,” which describes Old Military Road, I’m sure.

The in basket: Several weeks ago, Laura Turner e-mailed to say the the area around Central Valley Road, McWilliams Road, 64th Street and Holland Road is a dangerous zoo, especially around school quitting time and the afternoon rush hour.  She said Olympic High School students use Holland and 64th as a short cut to McWilliams.

Central Valley and McWilliams had been identified in a Kitsap Sun article a year ago as the 12th most accident prone county intersections.

“We need speed humps on Holland and a crosswalk at the minimum at Central Valley and McWilliams,” Laura said. “There are accidents at this intersection several times a year, yet the country refuses to do anything to help the local residents.  Why is this? ”

I spent some time a couple of afternoons watching this intersection during the last weeks of the school year and had to tell Laura that it seemed unexceptional. Traffic was not very heavy, especially coming out 64th onto Central Valley. One school bus let off one child some distance up McWilliams. I saw one pedestrian, on a skateboard.

But since it was listed as among the county’s most accident prone, I asked county Public Works if there are any plans to make it safer. There’s no mention of it on the county’s six-year-road plan, called the Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP).

The out basket: County Traffic Engineer Jeff Shea says, “Last year we proposed a project to construct a roundabout there.  It did not compete well against other projects and did not make it to the TIP.

“The collision numbers at this intersection are trending down,” he said, “and indications are that it will fall well below the top ten collision intersections.  In 2012 there were no reported collisions at the intersection.”

The in basket: Pete Waite. who lives at the east end of McWilliams Road in Central Kitsap, a T-intersection, told me in March that there has been a series of accidents involving drivers unaware the road is ending and crashing into his property and his neighbor’s.

It’s mostly teen-age drivers, he said, including a recent one in which the driver tried to pass someone slowing to stop and hit a tree across the intersection. Pete’s fence and garage door were damaged in another one.

Since we talked, there has been yet another one, in which a girl passenger was hurt and the driver was tracked down by a police dog after he ran, Pete said.

The county installed a larger stop sign after that one, he said. There also is a yellow arrow sign pointing left and right, and has ben for years. But he’d like to see the kind of flashing light one sees where Newberry Hill Road comes to the same kind of a T at Seabeck Highway.

The out basket: Jeff Shea, Kitsap County’s traffic engineer, says, “We have talked to (Pete’s) neighbor who voiced similar concerns. We upsized the stop sign and the warning sign. We also plan to add reflective tape to the sign post to (make) it a little more conspicuous.

“We looked at the lighting, but the existing luminaire lights the intersection well.

“We talked to the Sheriff’s Department about the collisions,” he continued. “They didn’t have a clear idea as to what might be causing the motorists to miss the stop.  They did offer that one was under the influence and a couple others were driving with suspended licenses.

“Overhead flashing beacons are considered a last resort without making major modifications to the intersection. This type of control device (flashing overhead beacons) often are considered a nuisance by neighbors because they flash all day and all night, every day.

“We are monitoring the existing improvements and will consider other options if collisions continue to occur,” Jeff 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: Perry East e-mailed to say he’d “noticed that the large divider on Highway 303 (near McWilliams and Fairgrounds roads) is looking like the jungle is taking over – moss, grass and trees growing up and against. Has the state any plans for clean up of this?”

Perry’s inquiry came just a week after Paul Zellinsky of Bremerton asked me the same thing.

Paul was for 14 years a state representative here, and he said he contacted old friend Mary Margaret Haugen, now head of the Senate Transportation Committee, asking her to intercede to see that it is cleaned up.

The out basket: Duke Stryker, head of the state’s highway maintenance operation here, said he hasn’t had any expressions of interest in that barrier from Olympia or regional headquarters. But he had his maintenance supervisor visit the site after I asked and he agrees the barrier needs attention.

They’ll be getting to it as soon as they are done with pavement repair that requires a grinder, such as that on Wheaton Way, in Gorst and in Purdy, discussed in a recent Road Warrior column.

They have to share the grinder, which they rent from the city of Bremerton, he said, and it will be going to Clallam County when they are done here. So his crews are working nights and have a limited time (through June) to complete this summer’s dig out and replacement pavement repair. Later, they’ll do less intensive grader resurfacing.

I asked him if the demands of the awful winter of 2008-09 might have required cutbacks in aesthetic operations like cleanup of the center barriers on state highways the following summer. He said that’s a balancing act they do all the time, but he couldn’t say there was any necessary relationship between that winter and the barrier on 303.

Certainly safety work like renewing highway striping every years and preservation work like the pavement repair take precedence over cleanup jobs, he said.

I noticed there was some impressive vegetation along the jersey barrier farther north on 303, suggesting it was missed last year too.