Construction hits the road for 2004

While major county road projects will not be impacting North End traffic next year, the Kitsap County Public Works staff is hoping to improve area traffic flows within the area during the following six years.

Thanks to funding approved by the county commissioners last week, Public Works received financial support to implement its six-year transportation improvement program for Kitsap, starting in 2004.

Despite taking a year off from North Kitsap, Assistant Public Works director John Brand said there are several projects in the North End the county has its eye on for the future:

•Hood Canal Drive, between Cliffside Road to Hood Canal Place: $520,000

•Miller Bay Road and Indianola intersection: $1 million

•Miller Bay Road and Gunderson intersection: $750,000

•Miller Bay Road and West Kingston intersection: $750,000

•South Kingston Road Culvert replacement: $619,000

•Hansville Road and Little Boston intersection: $450,000

Brand said the top priority for the North End is Hood Canal Drive. Public Works staff members and residents met several times during the summer to discuss the road conditions.

“We’re going for 10-foot lanes with four-foot paved shoulders,” Brand said.

The county presented options for wider driving lanes and shoulders but residents said they felt such improvements would result in higher speeds, he added.

While the speed limit on Hood Canal Drive is 25 miles per hour, concerned residents claim drivers are going at least 50 m.p.h. on the stretch of road.

The other major project for North Kitsap is the Miller Bay Corridor Study.

Public Works staff is creating conceptual designs for Miller Bay Road and its major intersections between State Route 104 in Kingston to Gunderson Road.

“We did all the surveying at one time and we’re starting the design,” Brand said. “We’ll probably cut it back and do the Indianola one first.”

Brand said some channelization, or extra turning lanes and signals, will be developed for the Indianola intersection. That work is expected to take place in 2006.

The channelization and intersection improvements for Gunderson are expected to take place in 2007. Completion of the West Kingston design isn’t expected until 2008.

Funding for the projects comes from a combination of local state and federal funds and impact fees, Brand said.

As for this coming year, drivers shouldn’t run into orange barrels or flaggers around town. Improvements to Little Boston Road, West Kingston Road and Lindvog Street took place in 2003.

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