Tag Archives: Silverdale Way

Early morning troubles at Bucklin Hill and Silverdale Way

The in basket: Dennis Copp writes, “I typically do my shopping early (0600 hrs.) on the weekends, and have had problems with the traffic signal at Bucklin Hill Road and Silverdale Way.

“When I come down Bucklin Hill, eastbound in the left-hand lane, I have to stop at the light in the intersection.  At this early time in the morning there is little to no traffic (major reason that I shop at that time).

“Even though  my car is the only car on the road, the signal does not change to give me a green light.  I have sat at the light for over five minutes, with NO north-south traffic on Silverdale Way and the light did not change. Only after another vehicle came by in the right-hand lane did the light cycle.

“At other times there have been cars in both the right and left lanes and we both sat at the light for an abnormally long time, with no north-south traffic.  It has gotten to the point that I drive several miles out of my way to avoid this intersection.

“The problem at this intersection is probably a faulty traffic detection loop or the detection module for the left-hand lane of eastbound Bucklin Hill.

“It would be nice to fix this, as I am sure that others have been trapped at this signal and I hate to waste gas avoiding the intersection,” Dennis said.

The out basket: Daren Miller, signal supervisor for Kitsap County, replies, “Our signal shop supervisor followed up on your reader’s concern. He went to the intersection and checked all the signal systems and they were working correctly at the time.

“He did some adjustments to the vehicle detection zone which may help.

“We use video detection (not in-pavement loops) at this intersection to detect when a motorist is at a signal.  Video detection can have problems with shadows, fog and other moving objects that aren’t necessarily a vehicle.

“Even if the equipment is working fine now, we do like to check the system out at the time the problem occurred. Sometime in the near future a county employee will drive through this lane to see what sort of problem he or she encounters.  If the system is working correctly and there are no other vehicles or pedestrians around, the longest wait time should be well less than a minute.  I would like to thank the reader for bringing this to our attention.”

 

Ruined Silverdale Way guardrail a complicated fix

The in basket: A reader says that four or five months ago, “on northbound Silverdale Way where it curves just before Mountain View Road, someone went off the road and crashed into the guardrail. The guard rail is still not repaired.

“Is there a plan to repair it? Is it due to funding or material?”

The out basket  Jeff Shea, traffic engineer for Kitsap County, says, “We have been working with the residents that abut the end of the guardrail. We have had to install it a little shorter in length because of an approach (driveway).

“We got approval from those property owners to block the abandoned approach. Now we can provide better protection for errant motorists.

“Secondly it takes time to procure the guardrail end treatment. It is specialized and we have to ensure we are getting appropriate end treatment for the location. Parts are on order and the guardrail will be installed when they are received.

Bad Silverdale Way patches to be redone

The in basket: Tom, who didn’t want his full name used, e-mailed to say, “Last week the county patched areas of Silverdale Way, both sides, north of the 303 overpass to Schold Road. These patched areas are already breaking down, making the road worst than what it was. You can tell the areas by the amount of asphalt stacking up in the center lane and by the fog lines.

“Was this a bad batch of asphalt? Does the county plan on further repairs/ replacement of these areas?”

The out basket: Doug Bear, spokesman for Kitsap County Public Works, replied succinctly, “It was a bad mix of asphalt from the vendor. We will be going back to take out the asphalt we put in and re-patch it with a better mix from a different vendor.”

 

Accidents prompt better lighting north of Silverdale

The in basket: George, who didn’t include a last name, asked in an e-mail, “There are three new LED street light just south of the intersection at Mountain View Road and Silverdale Way.
“Just wondering if you know why they are now there,” he wrote.

The out basket: They are part of Kitsap County’s ongoing program of making perilous locations safer, much like the new guardrails we discussed last time.

Jeff Shea, Kitsap County traffic engineer, said, “This Silverdale Way location is covered by our federal safety grant projects.

“Several motorists have left the roadway at this location. Two of the collisions involved fatalities.  One was a motorcyclist going too fast, and the other a motorist speeding under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

A guardrail was installed to protect motorists from going over the embankment.  When we look at the accident records if a number of the collisions occur at night, and we feel the darkness may have contributed to the collisions, lighting up the roadway is an option that we consider. In this case, we opted to have the street lights installed.”

 

Silverdale Way two-way turn lane is a concern to reader

The in basket: Kay Daling said in an e-mail, “On Silverdale Way in front of Burger King I have witnessed many situations with too many cars trying to use the two-way left turn lane at the same time.

“People pull in, realize someone is blocking their left turn and try to pull back out into traffic to pull around and go back into the left turn lane. Others pull over, but hang out into the go ahead traffic lane  because there is not enough room for them due to so many other cars already in the lane.

“The situation just keeps getting worse as more people use Silverdale Way. This is a hazard and I was wondering if the county has any plans to address the issue, like maybe the barrier on Myhre Way blocking left turns into the driving lane next to Pet Smart.

“This area was never as bad as that on Silverdale Way and they put in a barrier.  Maybe one is needed on Silverdale Way,” Kay said.

The out basket: Jeff Shea, Kitsap County traffic engineer, says, “We currently don’t have any plans to do anything specifically at this location.  There is a proposed plan that is looking at the feasibility of installing a signal with the development of the community campus. This signal would provide access to the community campus onto Silverdale Way and, in some fashion, incorporate access to the shopping center across the street.

“Comparing this location to the location on Myhre, this location had 19 reported collisions in a five-year period (about 3.8 per year), while Myhre had nine collisions in just 13 months, well over twice the rate of Silverdale Way’s.

“That rate is just based on collisions and time.  When we do a collision rate analysis we (also) look at the volume of traffic on the road.  So the rate on Silverdale drops down dramatically due to the much higher volume of traffic it has compared to Myhre.

“On Myhre, we contacted all the property owners for their input to the decision.  Restricting this access did not impact the businesses in this complex too detrimentally.  There are two other accesses off Myhre, and RIdgetop and Mickelberry have multiple accesses.  Putting restrictions on the shopping center’s access (would) have considerable impact on the stores in the Silverdale Way complex.

“We will continue to monitor the collisions on Silverdale Way through our safety report analysis process,” Jeff said.

 

 

Not seeing ‘red’ on highways signs

The in basket: Susan Miles wrote on Dec. 14 to say, “It’s definitely time to replace the faded  ‘Do Not Enter’ sign at the Waaga Way exit onto Silverdale Way.  All of the red warning coloring is completely gone.  My husband has actually seen someone go the wrong way on this exit.

“How can a traffic sign fade?” she asked.

“I have seen several faded signs, and to me it seems dangerous and unacceptable.  I have seen people drive right through an intersection without stopping because the stop sign was faded.

“Who can be held accountable if these faded signs contribute to a serious accident?” she asked.

The out basket: When I encountered Susan at a party just three days later, she said the sign had already been replaced. I had notified Duke Stryker, head of highway maintenance here, of Susan’s e-mail and he had responded quickly.

Steve Bennett, traffic operations engineer for the Olympia region of state highways, thanked Susan for bringing the problem to their attention.

“In terms of the fading question, signs and most other colored things are continually fading, which is brought on by a host of factors, but primarily sunlight. And by far, of the colors we use for highways signs, red fades the most rapidly.

“I am no scientist,” he said, “but my understanding is that fading is due to oxidation caused by sunlight. Apparently the color red is affected by this process more than most other colors.”

He didn’t address the liability issue, but I am sure the answer lies in whether anyone makes a connection between an accident and a faded sign and the legal acumen of the parties involved.