The in basket: Bob Hoag of Silverdale said he was almost clobbered by a big box truck pulling out of the service station at Anderson Hill and Provost/Old Frontier roads as he passed by eastbound on Anderson Hill. He hit the gas to get past the truck and avoid getting T-boned.

It caused him to suggest a traffic revision there,

“I feel that the driveway out of the gas station on Anderson Hill Road should only be allowed for vehicles exiting to the west and vehicles going east to enter the gas station via the turn lane.  There is another access to the gas station on Old Frontier Road.

“The county should put some barriers on the south side of the left turn lane on Anderson Hill Road to prevent any further attempt by vehicles crossing the north lane and the left turn lane to reach the south lane to go east on Anderson Hill Road.

“I truly believe this arrangement is very dangerous and the county needs to investigate this situation especially due to the significant increase in vehicles going east and west on Anderson Hill Road,” Bob said.

I asked if he is aware of other close calls at the intersection, and he said he isn’t.

The out basket: I told Bob I seriously doubted that the county would do what he suggests, and am not surprised by their answer.

“Access management is something always considered with new developments.,” County Traffic Engineer Jeff Shea said.  “We try to avoid primary approaches to businesses, residents and other driveways in close proximity to intersections.

“In some cases because of the size of the lot, topography, and other considerations, we cannot keep driveways out of the intersection’s functional area – in this case the left turn lane. “While there have been many near misses at this location, a review of the collision history here shows only two collisions in the last five years, neither of which is attributed to the type of collision your reader anticipates.

“Placing a barrier to restrict movements into the business forces patrons to either approach the business from a different direction, creating a long circuitous route, or turning around at a place beyond the business, not a safe movement itself.

“Of course businesses don’t always welcome traffic restrictions that limit the ability of their customers to access their business. We try to balance all these concerns when considering traffic restrictions. We continue to monitor this location for accident trends.”

The in basket: Mary Barton e-mailed to say, “I’m wondering if you can tell me why Greaves Road in Silverdale was created.  “I was driving on Old Frontier from Trigger Avenue” she said, “and encountered this new (to me) intersection (Old Frontier and Greaves).  I took Greaves road by mistake probably because I was confused by the change.

“Greaves road is nice, wide and empty.  Why did we spend money on a road that isn’t used?   What if anything is the county planning for this new road, that if you take a left at

Highway 303 takes us to the worst intersections in the county?”

The out basket: The road (it’s name is actually Greaves Way) is intended to provide a more direct route between west Silverdale/rural Central Kitsap and that “worst” intersection, which gets one onto the Highway 3 and Highway 303 freeways, and to link Clear Creek and Old Frontier roads more directly, while providing access to an area designated by county planners as a major commercial area of the future.

A statement from the county says, “Discussion on design of this roadway was originally initiated in the 1990s, with funding acquired over the years from local and federal sources. (It) was added to the County’s Transportation Improvement Plan in 2000 to initiate design and engineering.  “In 2006, the Kitsap County Comprehensive Plan expanded the Silverdale Urban Growth Area and added 450 acres of land for new opportunities for commercial, office and industrial uses. The new road was, and still is (the economy turned and the developments got put on hold), intended to provide a development catalyst to these lands by providing access to a wide-range of new employment and service opportunities for Kitsap County residents.

(It) was also offered as an alternate route into, and around, Silverdale, reducing congestions on Anderson Hill Road and Bucklin Hill Road,” the statement said.

The in basket: Road Warrior readers have nominated two more intersections for  the flashing yellow left-turn arrows that Kitsap County has deployed in many places.

Bob Hoag says, “I think the blinking yellow left turn signals are great especially on Bucklin Hill Road in Silverdale.

However, it seems the county forgot one location. With the new Greaves Way connection to Waaga Way, and the significant increase in traffic on eastbound Anderson Hill Road, left turns onto Old Frontier Road (which feeds into Greaves Way) are piling up.  As a result, I was very surprised that the county didn’t add a blinking left-turn signal at the intersection on Anderson Hill Road and Old Frontier Road.

Warren Nadeau feels the same way about the signal on Highway 3 between Bremerton National Airport and the Olympic View Industrial Area.

“Cars trying to make a left turn into the airport or a left turn into the industrial area must sit with high speed traffic passing them for some time before the light changes,” Warren said. “Many times there are large gaps in traffic that would allow left turns to be made without stopping high speed traffic on the highway. It seems that it would be much safer and more efficient than having left turn traffic interfering with the highway traffic.

“To anyone trying to make a left turn for one or two minutes while at a dead stop, with full speed traffic passing within inches in both directions (head on and from behind), it is downright frightening.  You have no momentum to avoid a collision should someone move into your lane from behind or head on,” he said.

The out basket: There is no immediate hope for a yellow flasher at either location.

Jeff Shea, Kitsap County’s traffic engineer said of the intersection Bob mentions, “It’s a budget issue. The signals currently configured with flashing yellow lights were upgraded with new construction, or the upgrade was funded with development mitigation funds. We do not have budget available to pay for the upgraded equipment necessary to implement this technology at other intersections. We continue to look for opportunities to widen the use of flashing yellow light technology, as it’s been very well received by motorists.”

The airport signal is owned by the state, which has a policy that once a signal has been found to require one level of traffic control (such as a red arrow left-turn signal) it won’t go to a lesser degree of control without a significant improvement in the alignment of the intersection. That would prohibit either a yellow flashing left turn signal at the Highway 3 signal or that technology’s predecessor, a sign allowing left turns against a solid green ball light after yielding to all conflicting traffic.

The in basket: Barb Frindell think the outside lane on the recently opened Greaves Way in Silverdale needs a little more notice that it’s about to require a right turn onto Old Frontier Road.

“Are they thinking of putting up some arrows in the medium on Greaves Way, where the right-turn-only lane ends?”  she asked. “At night approaching that intersection, it comes up on you before you know it.

“I would think that there might be a few accidents of people jumping the curb area that did not want to be in that lane.”

She told me she envisioned one of those yellow arrow signs like the county has at the end of Newberry Hill Road at Seabeck Highway. 

The out basket: The county’s first response was that the markings are adequate.

“There currently are two pavement arrows for the right-turn lane in place,” said Traffic Engineer Jeff Shea. “In addition to the arrows we have a 320-foot solid white wide gore stripe prior to the intersection. There is also two Right Lane Must Turn Right signs, and an advance street name sign prior to the intersection. We do not plan any additional marking there.” 

On reflection, however, it was decided that some reflective tape will be added to the island that ends the outside lane, so drivers can see it better at night.

The in basket: The new road Kitsap County is building to link the Highway 3-303 interchange with Old Frontier Road has become more than an academic issue for Central Kitsap drivers as its opening date nears.

Art Hammond writes, “I was wondering if you had any idea on when they plan to have Clear Creek Road, repaved and smoothed out, in the the Waaga Way Extension area?  I know that Old Frontier is in a whole lot better shape, than Clear Creek. 

“As it is right now, every time I have to use Clear Creek, my car and I know countless other cars take a beating on the road, as the company did a lousy patch job.  If they did that to Clear Creek, how can we expect the new road to hold up?”

 And Peter Wimmer is concerned about the road’s other end. 

“The Waaga extension where it comes out to Old Frontier has two stop signs and an annoying hard turn put into Old Frontier,” he said. “I can understand signage to alert us to an upcoming light but why a stop sign? And what is the reason for such a hard turn in what was the right of way – Old Frontier.

“It looks like the planners have now made the extension, which is not Highway 303, the main road and made Old Frontier the secondary.

The out basket: Indeed they have. The alignment at the road’s west end is complete, putting the stop on Old Frontier, says county Construction Manager Jacques Dean. It was the same thing the county did in South Kitsap years ago when it improved the Glenwood-Lake Flora road intersection and made Lake Flora the through road, not Glenwood.

The sharp curve is the reason for the stop sign on northbound Old Frontier, Jacques said, but it’s temporary. When the new road, to be called Greaves Way, opens around late October, that stop sign will come out. In the meantime, he said, they wanted to make drivers stop so they don’t lose control making the turn. 

The stop sign on Old Frontier will stay. There’ll be no traffic light there for the near future, although conduit has been put in the ground to accommodate one when traffic counts demand one.

The rugged pavement at the Clear Creek end of Greaves is where a utility trench was dug as part of the project, says Greg Canyer of the county. That entire area will be realigned, possibly the week of Sept. 21, to route Clear Creek traffic to the other side of the large dirt pile visible there. 

The final project will have that traffic meet a traffic signal there for turns onto Greaves. Left turners will proceed down to the existing signal on Highway 303.

All the beat-up pavement will be removed and a lot of it will not be replaced. Schold Road, which serves the Peewee field to the east, will cross through there to meet the relocated Clear Creek Road at a stop sign. The rest will be seeded in grass.