Road Warrior

The in basket: Jerry Van Fossen has his doubts about Kitsap County plans to put a stop signal at the off-ramp from southbound Highway 303 at Ridgetop Boulevard in Silverdale.

“That red light is going to create additional havoc for those heading west,” he predicts. “They will have four lights within a quarter mile.

“The  only problem is rush hours. Just forbid left turns from 3 to 6 p.m.,” he proposes.”What you will do there is back up traffic heading west.”

Eastbound traffic out of Silverdale greatly outnumbers left turn traffic at that off-ramp, he said.

Jerry’s may be a lone voice objecting to the traffic light, a project the county took out of the state’s hands in order, they expect, to lessen one bottleneck on a route likely to get a lot more use next year when they widen Bucklin Hill Road.

A signal at that on-ramp is one of the most common requests made to the Road Warrior column, and I would expect a no-left-turn limitation there in the afternoons to be wildly unpopular with those who use that off-ramp in the afternoons. There are no convenient alternate routes, especially for those who had come south on Highway 3.

I asked county Public Works about Jerry’s concerns.

The out basket: Jeff Shea, the county’s traffic engineer says, “Currently the delays and the safety issues related to the Highway 303 southbound offramp clearly justify a signal on the west side on/off ramps.

“The new signals will be interconnected with a fiber optics line to the Myhre signal.  We hope to  eventually connect Hillsboro also.

“I can’t give you a date on when that might happen – (it’s a) budget and manpower issue.

“The new signal will be under the control of the state.  (It) has many highway ramps with signalized intersections on both ramp terminals, including the SR 303/Silverdale ramps.  They have the trained personnel to make the signal timing coordination as facilitating as possible, and they are willing to work with us on signal coordinations.  “I can’t make the claim that this won’t impact the other delays, but they should be minimal if at all.

“We have received a request to look at extending the right turn lane for westbound traffic on the eastside of SR 303.  This would shorten the queues by allowing more motorists to reach that turn lane without getting delayed in the through-lane queue.

“The project is currently being evaluated in our Transportation Improvement Program.”

The in basket: Pat and Sherri Burch of Silverdale said in an e-mail, “We are tired of playing dodge the U-Turn drivers on NW Myhre Road.  It has gotten to the point of (being) dangerous.  Ever since the No Left Turn sign and barricades went up just North of Ridgetop on Myhre where everyone used to turn for Costco, drivers have gotten creative. “They now stop in the turnout for the bus stop and make a U-Turn. We have learned to look for these errant drivers.  Can the county extend the barricades just past the bus stop?  Drivers must not be aware that they can make a left turn a few hundred yards down the road into Lowe’s which feeds into Costco parking. There WILL be a serious accident if this situation is not resolved soon.”

The out basket: Jeff Shea, Kitsap County traffic engineer, says,  “We are aware of the situation.  We are coordinating with the sheriff’s department on this issue and continue to monitor it for complaints and reported collisions.  If it becomes a bigger problem, we would consider continuing the curbing to the bus stop.”

The in basket: There it was, quietly tucked within the story about plans for the planned Bucklin Hill Road bridge in the March 22 issue of the Kitsap Sun.

“A traffic signal to be installed next year at the closest offramp on Waaga Way should increase traffic flows for vehicles taking Waaga Way as a detour around the construction site,” it said.

Could it be, I wondered, will the state finally install a signal at the southbound off-ramp of Waaga Way, a.k.a. Highway 303, at Ridgetop Boulevard?

Reader requests for such a signal have really been too numerous to mention over the years, but the most I’d been able to learn is the county and state were talking about it.  Left turns onto Ridgetop are notoriously hard to make at busy times due to the heavy traffic.

I asked if the signal was finally on its way.

The out basket: Tina Nelson, senior program manager for the county, says yes, that is the plan, and the county has taken over management of the signal project. It’s included in the county’s six-year road plan, known as the TIP.

I can’t feel too bad about not spotting it, as it’s listed on the plan as simply “intersection improvements.”

Tina goes on to say, “A recent decision/agreement was made where the county will manage the project. Funding will come from the state Department of Transportation ($140,000), Harrison Hospital ($225,000), and the county road fund (the balance, which is currently estimated at $160,000).

“The TIP shows the project as being constructed in 2014, but we are going to try and get it constructed in 2013, before the Bucklin Hill bridge,”  she said.

The in basket: Henry Sicat proposes a change in Silverdale to make travel easier.

“As I’m sure most people have probably noticed,” he said, “the Silverdale area traffic (is) getting worse every year, I wonder if (the county) can maybe
add a right turn lane from Ridgetop Boulevard to Silverdale Way northbound, just like the existing right turn lane coming from the opposite direction.

“This, I believe, would help alleviate the congested traffic at that busy intersection,” Henry said.

The out basket: “There are no plans to improve the intersection as your reader suggests,” replies Doug Bear, spokesman for Kitsap County Public Works. “The costs involved in a project like this would make it a capital project and would need to be considered as part of the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP).

“An explanation of the TIP process is available online at http://www.kitsapgov.com/pw/sixyear_tip.htm,” he said. That’s also where you can also see the most recently adopted TIP to see what road projects the county has planned through 2017.

“During the spring,” Doug added, “we actively encourage residents to submit ideas, like the one your reader mentions, for consideration in this process. Suggestions are considered and rated …. Questions about the tip process can be sent to Jim Rogers, transportation planner, at jrogers@co.kitsap.wa.us.

The in basket: Bob Arper asks if the county or state hase “decided to eliminate the merge lane that was originally on northbound Ridgetop Boulevard where the Waaga Way  westbound exit intersects.

“It appears that is the case,” he said,  “since I have noticed all the other white lines on Ridgetop have been painted in but not the line for the merge lane. Can someone tell me why it was not done?”

The out basket: Jeff Shay, traffic engineer for Kitsap County, says “Yes, we intentionally let the lane line wear out. When the state redid the left-turn lane under the Highway 303 underpass, it aligned the through lane so it is almost dead center on the northbound lane line on Ridgetop Boulevard. It was impossible to realign the lane, so to avoid collisions between merging traffic and the through lane, we eliminated the line, making it a single wide lane.”

The in basket:  Charelaine Hampton and Mike McDermott both say they’ve seen drivers who are used to turning left from Myhre Road in Silverdale to go downhill to Costco, Petsmart and the other stores in that area pulling a U-turn just past the barrier the county put there to prevent those left turns.

Those drivers then come back and turn right legally into the access. But in the meantime, their U-turns create an accident hazard, both said.

Charelaine says the U-turners use the exit from Harrison Hospital’s Silverdale location and endanger drivers coming out that exit. She sees it almost weekly, when she goes to the hospital for a regular meeting, she said.

Mike described what he saw  one day in October.

“As I turned from Ridgetop onto Myhre there were two cars in front of me. The first one pulled into the center lane before the barrier so they could still make the left turn. The other car went just past the barrier and went into the bus stop on the right side of the road and made a U-turn right in the middle of Myhre to get back to the lane down to Costco.

“Obviously, this deterrent to turning left near Petsmart is going to cause more problems if this is what people are going to do,” he said.

“All people have to do is continue down Ridgetop another block to Mickleberry and turn right,” he said.

The out basket: I would hope that the problem would abate in time as more drivers learn those left turns are now forbidden and plan an alternate route.

I was surprised to discover that just a couple hundred yards further ahead on Myhre is another left turn that still is open that leads down to Costco with hardly any greater travel time, though getting back to Petsmart would require a little more extra time. Until then, I thought it would be necessary to drive all the way down to the next traffic signal on Myhre.

And by continuing straight on Ridgetop, as Mike suggested, a driver not only can turn right at Mickelberry, but has two even earlier right turn opportunities to get to where the now-forbidden left turn used to take them.

Asked about the U-turns and other driver reactions to the barrier, Kitsap County Traffic Engineer Jeff Shea chose to reiterate the reasons the barrier went up in the first place.

“The Sheriff’s Department presented me with nine collision reports for about a one-year period (2010) at this location,” he said. ’They asked if anything could be done to reduce the collision frequency.

“…Most of the collisions were the result of a motorist either turning left out of the approach or turning left into the approach.  The logical counter-measure was to restrict the vehicle movements to right-in right-out only.

“Knowing that a sign alone would not preclude motorists from turning left, we decided to put the curbing in.

In addition to the sign and curbing, flexible delineators (posts) were installed and the yellow striping was reconfigured to an 18-inch solid line, which state law prohibits motorists from crossing.

“There are  two (other) convenient accesses to this commercial property, one further north on Myhre or eastbound motorists on Ridgetop Blvd can stay on Ridgetop and make the first right turn.

“U-turns are not illegal if done in a safe manner, but if problems arise we will address them.”

State law forbids U-turns in certain locations, like on hills, but none of the prohibitions clearly apply on Myhre. Part of the law says they are illegal, “where such vehicle cannot be seen by the driver of any other vehicle approaching from either direction within five hundred feet.”

The in basket: Two more Central Kitsap residents have nominated two more intersections for the blinking yellow left-turn lights that Kitsap County has installed at numerous Silverdale spots.

Alice Gray would like to see them at Ridgetop Boulevard’s northernmost intersection with Silverdale Way, near the top of the hill north of town. And Linda Bruce points to the next signalized intersection north, at Bennington Drive and Crestview on opposite sides of Silverdale Way.

Alice adds a new element to her request, saying that while she waits needlessly before being allowed to turn, “one can see there is no traffic  coming north on Silverdale Way for almost a mile and the left-turn light does not change to green until any northbound traffic almost comes to the intersection. I am sure I am not alone in my aggravation. When there are so many yellow blinking lights elsewhere, why isn’t there one here?”

The out basket: The two requests will have to be added to previous ones for the blinking lefts, at Provost/Old Frontier and Anderson Hill Road most recently.

As before, the reason is a lack of money to add those flashing lefts to any more intersections than have them now. When money becomes available, I’m sure those places will be considered,

As for traffic moving northbound on Silverdale Way looking at a signal that stays green until they are almost there, Jeff Shea, the county’s traffic engineer, says, “We do work with the state to coordinate signals when possible, and when the coordination of the signals increases efficiency for through traffic.

“The (federal) Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) states signals located within a half-mile of each other should be coordinated. The signal at Silverdale Way and Highway 303 is about 1.5 miles from the Silverdale Way / Ridgetop intersection. In that distance there are many variables (speed, traffic volumes, opportunities to exit the roadway between the intersections) that makes coordinating the signals difficult. In light of that, coordinating these signals would not gain the efficiencies your reader desires.”

The in basket: Beth Hill says there are at least two recessed drains on westbound Ridgetop Boulevard near its intersection with Silverdale Way that appear to have dropped down, three inches deep, she guesses.

“I drove over one and my car (a Suburban) hit it so hard it shut the engine off,” she said. “It was really a jolt.” Her car suffered no damage and restarted easily, she said, adding “The drains are near the shoulder but in the driving lane.”

The out basket: The county doesn’t see a problem. Dave Marquis, its utilities maintenance supervisor, said he drove Ridgetop Boulevard both east and westbound. “Most basins are at an ideal elevation,” he said. “There are a couple that may be close to 2 inches below the travel way, but they have a taper into the grate and are on the steeper portion of Ridgetop, which is needed in order to capture the water.

“It seems you would have to go out of your way and drive right next to the curb in order to hit any of them,” he said. “I see no problem with any of the basins in this area.”

I drove it after Beth called and I think I know which two drains she means. They are on a flat stretch of Ridgetop and could be leveler, but I have to agreed with Dave that a person would have to be driving unusually fast unusually close to the curb to get jolted very hard even at those two.

The in basket: Rod DeGuzman of Silverdale asks, “Can you please explain to me while the speed limit in Auto Center Way is posted at 25 mph (and not)  35 mph since this street looks like a commercial zone vice a residential road. 

“Even Ridgetop Boulevard, which I believed is a residential street, has a posted speed limit of 35 mph and to assist with the school bus / student crossing hours had installed flashing lights to warn drivers when children are present in the street.”

The out basket: The lower speed limit on Bremerton’s Auto Center Way has never seemed odd to me, given all its hills and curves, including the combination of both where a lot of not yet licensed  drivers come and go from the state Department of Licensing office.

Ridgetop Boulevard, a county road, has a wide median to separate directions of travel and has better sight distances.

But it’s simpler than that, says Paul Wandling of the city of Bremerton. “County roads are typically posted 35,” he said. “Most city streets are posted 25 even when an adjacent county lane (same street) has the opposite direction posted 35.”

The in basket: Brandi Sydney is among the legion of drivers who often must wait a long time to turn left onto Ridgetop Boulevard from the southbound off-ramp of Highway 303 in Silverdale.

“Will they ever put a light at the intersection of Waaga Way and Ridgetop?” she writes.  ”When you take the exit you can go right and head toward Harrison Hospital, but it is almost impossible to take a left and head up Ridgetop,” 

“I have watched people get sick of waiting and just dart out and hope for the best. It is very dangerous. We have lived here three years and will only go that way if it is very, very late at night,” she said.

Speaking of Waaga Way, Lonnie and Janis Scott say that they aren’t certain how to pronounce it.

“We’ve heard it called ‘Vaaga’ and ‘Wa’aga’ as well as

Waaga (with a short a sound),” Lonnie said..

“Do you know the origin of the name, like if it is Scandinavian or Native American?”

The out basket: There’ll probably be a traffic signal there some day, but not before 2012.

Doug Bear of Kitsap County Public Works says, “Commissioner (Josh) Brown wrote (the state) urging them to consider installing a signal there, and while the intersection warrants a signal, it is low on their priority array for locations to install signals.”

Jamie Swift of the Olympic Region of state highways confirms that. “While there are several intersections in greater need of a signal than Ridgetop, the main issue here is lack of funding,” he said. “The Legislature has already determined the department’s budget for the 2009-2011 biennium and no signal is included in that budget.  

“So the next opportunity to fund a signal here would be in the 2011-2013 session that begins in January of 2011.”

Waaga is pronounced “WAH-guh.’ The late Art Waaga, for whom it is named, was Kitsap County engineer around the time the county built the highway (the state since has assumed jurisdiction and calls in SR303) and gained earlier renown as a member of Olympic College’s most successful basketball team, in 1948-49.