HANSVILLE — Visitors and residents driving to or around the Greater Hansville Area may notice road changes taking place soon, including several speed tables and a speed limit reduction on Hansville Road.
The former is the work of the Greater Hansville Area Road Safety Advisory Committee, and the latter of Kitsap County Public Works, all in an effort to slow motorists and protect pedestrians and bicyclists.
The Kitsap County Board of Commissioners approved each action Monday, as well as officially recognized the Greater Hansville Area Advisory Committee and it’s connection with the county. Now, RSAC members are waiting for the asphalt to start pouring and searching for their next traffic safety project.
“We continue to be involved in the process to go forward,” said RSAC co-chairwoman Patricia Pinkham. “The county has been very helpful. That was the hardest and biggest issue that came up, is the pedestrian safety issue in the community. We’ve been working the last 15 or 16 months on community awareness.”
A series of 10 speed tables, which are different than speed bumps in that they have a 6- to 8-foot ramp up and down and a 10- to 14-foot plateau, will be located on Hansville Road, Twin Spits Road, Hood Canal Drive and Bridge View Drive. Kitsap County Public Works manager Jon Brand said construction on the tables will begin this summer and wrap up in mid- to late-September.
The work will be done by county crews, and will cost $35,000, which is coming from a six-year county fund to maintain safe bicycle and pedestrian streets. Brand said this project was a good fit for the fund’s requirements.
“We’ll see, it is in a way experimental,” he said. “We’re balancing the community wants. We’ve done it before in other areas, though we are somewhat reluctant to do it, but the (Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office) and the fire stations seem on board with it, so we’ll try it. I’m optimistic it will turn out nicely.”
“The nice thing about this project is through the construction process, it’s visible,” said RSAC co-chairwoman Kathy Bourassa. She added residents will see it and hopefully come forward with their traffic concerns the committee can help with. “We really are just a group of residents that came together to work on this.”
The speed limit change on Hansville Road, starting just past the Kingston Albertsons, was another measure to moderate and regulate speed, said traffic signal investigation supervisor Dusty Wiley.
“It did come down with everything, we rerouted the whole road so we don’t have overlapping resolutions,” he said. “Just north of (The Point Casino) we lowered it to 50. It was our only 55 mph road left, and we brought it down to match the rest of the county. There have been lots of complaints, and we wanted to get something uniform.”
From just north of Albertsons to The Point Casino, the speed limit has been lowered from 55 mph to 45 mph, and Kitsap County Commissioner Chris Endresen said there were several concerns raised about the differing speeds.
“The same speed doesn’t fit the whole road,” Wiley said.
The speed limit changes will be made in three to four weeks, he said. Orange flags will accompany the changed speed limit signs to alert motorists.
“In 1975, I originally set the limit at 55,” Wiley said. “In ‘74, ‘75 and ‘76 I did the whole county so we had speed limits on each road.”
