The in basket: Patricia Evans and Peter Wimmer have commented on
the still-to-open Greaves Way that soon will link Old Frontier Road
and the Silverdale interchange where highways 3 and 303 meet.
Patricia says she travels Old Frontier Road to Bangor every
day and has her doubts about the new left turn created where Old
Frontier and Greaves Way meet.
“When making a left turn after stopping at the new stop sign,
a person is not able to make the complete turn without going onto
the double yellow line toward the oncoming traffic,” she asserts
.”It is a very tight turn even with my GEO.”
She doesn’t think a large truck or a school bus can make the turn
without breaking the law.
Peter wonders why the county leaves what he considers the overly
fancy street lights on all night when no traffic is allowed
on the road yet.
“I
can understand the need for some lighting, but really isn’t that a
bit much?” he wrote. “And a bit fancy? How about fixing ones
that are not lit before they light up an unopened stretch of
road? Are we not trying to save money in the budget?”
The out basket: I’m glad they asked, as it’s about time for an
update on Greaves Way, which was days from its Nov. 16 ribbon
cutting when it was all put on hold.
The reason, Project Manager Jacques Dean tells me, was that the
cross-arm on one of the supports for the new traffic signal at
Greaves and the realigned Clear Creek Road arrived bent.
The company that provided it took it back, cut it, welded it and
galvanized it. It was brought back Monday and installed, he
said..
If
the light was the only problem, the road might open next week. But
some of the roadway has settled up at the top of Greaves’ hill,
Jacques said. The contractor is trying to diagnose the problem.
Silver lining-wise, the postponement Nov. 16 is a good thing, or
they’d be dealing with the pavement problem with traffic passing
by.
Whatever they learn, and whenever the road opens, the ribbon
cutting won’t be until after the first of the year, he said.
As
for Patricia’s concern, I told Jacques it does seem like a tight
turn, even in a passenger car. Another car sitting in the
left turn pocket waiting to go east on Greaves (when it’s open)
could present a long vehicle turning across its path with
problems.
He
looked at it Tuesday and says it follows the design, which meets
turning radius criteria. A truck or motor home driver who pulls
into the intersection before starting his turn won’t have problems,
he said.
The stop sign that halts traffic before making that left turn to
continue on to Bangor will be removed. Southbound Old Frontier will
become the stop street then and northbound Old Frontier and Greaves
will appear to be one street.
Jacques said he hadn’t considered the possibility of disconnecting
the street lights until the road opens. They are activated by
darkness, but all of them can be disconnected at just two spots.
He’ll look into whether labor or permitting issues to unhook them
and then hook them up again would offset any savings from letting
them come on at night until the road is open, he said.
As
for whether the lights are too fancy, Jacques said, “This project
can be considered one of the ‘gateways’ into Silverdale. It
will be a significant area of growth in the future and the county
and community wanted it to be aesthetically pleasing, thus the
ornate light standards, boulevard design, and extensive
landscaping.
“The light standards that were chosen are actually cheaper to
purchase and install, including to maintain and replace, than
standard light poles and luminaires,” he said,. “The number of
light poles is based on standard parameters for a four-lane roadway
and necessary disbursement of light.”
