SILVERDALE — Silverdale’s southern entrance will look substantially different by 2018.
Motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians coming into Silverdale will be greeted by a new five-lane entrance with wide sidewalks and other improvements.
“This is a defining project for Silverdale,” said Gunnar Fridriksson, capital improvements project manager for Kitsap County, during a presentation to members of the Central Kitsap Community Council Feb. 18.
“We’re rebuilding the entrance into Silverdale.”
The area of Silverdale Way to be improved stretches from NW Byron Street to NW Anderson Hill Road.
“It’s meant to be an arterial … it used to be a highway,” Fridriksson said of Silverdale Way.
Even though it’s not a highway, Silverdale Way “still has the same characteristics with traffic and capacity,” he said.
Fridriksson said the original Silverdale Way highway was built in 1927 and he thought there was a reconstruction of the highway in the 1950s. He said not much had been done since then other than adding asphalt.
New street lights, trees, landscaping, wayfinding signs and street furniture would be part of the project. The project is being designed to be safe for motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists.
Fridriksson said design work was 30 percent complete, and that 60 percent should by done by the next open house meeting in August. The design should be 90 percent complete by October and fully complete by January 2017. Construction will begin in May 2017, and should require one year to complete.
The main goals of the project are increased safety and increased capacity.
“We want to be able to do this to provide a safe environment for all of the users on the roadway and that includes bicyclists and pedestrians,” he said.
Traffic flow would be maintained one-way during construction and access to businesses will be maintained. Fridriksson said the county would need to know what area businesses’ needs were regarding access and delivery times.
A new 6- to 9-foot-tall retaining wall on the west side of Silverdale Way will be built. Artwork will be installed on the side of the wall.
Because of all the groundwater in the area, drainage systems will be installed.
There are four bus stops in the stretch of road being upgraded.
One resident at the meeting said she was concerned Silverdale Way would turn into another Wheaton Way.
“I’m just afraid that it’s going to be a Wheaton Way. That’s what I see happening eventually,” the woman said.
“Wheaton Way used to look very very nice during the first 15-20 years of its life. And now it looks worse. The businesses have all changed. Half of them closed. The demographics have changed,” she said.
Fridriksson responded by saying Wheaton Way was a poor comparison as it was a “typical 1950s-1960s” automobile-centric design.
Fridriksson said the Silverdale Way improvements would focus on multiple modes of transit, not just via automobile.
“What we’re trying to do here with Silverdale Way is make it walkable, make it bikeable, make it friendly to all modes (of transportation). And that’s why I say Wheaton Way was constructed with a ‘50s and ‘60s mentality is that it’s all about the car and there was no other mode of transportation really considered when they planned it.”
[RELATED: Future county road projects in Kitsap County (PDF) ]
Other improvements to Silverdale roads
• During the presentation, Fridriksson also described a second project, called Silverdale Green Streets, which will continue improvements on Silverdale Way northward to the Bucklin Hill Road intersection.
A plan for Ridgetop Boulevard north of Waaga way. (North is to the right.)
• A third project involves improving part of Ridgetop Boulevard north of Waaga Way. The Ridgetop project will replace worn out stormwater pipes and improve sight lines by replacing trees with shorter vegetation. Ridgetop Boulevard will be expanded from two lanes to four up to the intersection with Boardwalk Place.
• During public comment, one woman said Seabeck Highway was too narrow and should be widened so that joggers and bicyclists would have more room. “I have a pretty big car, OK. Seabeck highway from Anderson Hill … all the way up to the post office, is narrow and it needs to be widened… something needs to be done; it’s dangerous,” she said.
• Electrical wires along Seabeck Highway will be upgraded to “tree wire,” which is more resistant to being shorted out by tree branches.
