POULSBO — Drivers stuck in the heavier than usual traffic congestion on State Route 305 this week have a sewer line to blame.

Crews from Stan Palmer Construction of Port Orchard began work on the SR 305 force main last week in hopes of completing the project before the SR 305 widening project starts.

Crews will continue working from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the week, but the hope is that they will be off the road by 5 p.m., said city inspector Mike Lund.

“They have approval from the council to work nights, but they would like to keep daylight hours as much as possible,” Lund said.

The work could be done at night, but it would be much slower and greater risk would be involved, he said.

Poulsbo Police Sergeant Bill Playter said that the department hasn’t noticed any unexpected congestion since the project began last week.

“It’s the same amount and we haven’t noticed anything unusual,” Playter said.

The intersections on SR 305 between Bond Road and the south city limits will be closed at some time during the force main installation, but advanced notice will be given of those closures, Lund said.

There is also a possibility that because the contractor was awarded the $14.9 million widening project, work on the force main will be synchronized into it, he added.

Even though the force main installation benefits the Olhava development, it wasn’t an immediate need for continued construction in the area, said Olhava Associates President Mark Zenger.

“We have enough capacity to take us through the next 18 months to two years,” Zenger said. “It was more important from the city’s standpoint because they had to get the line in before the widening project.”

The force main should be completed before construction of a Bond Road pump station because of the lead time associated with some of the station’s components, he said.

“The most important reason it needs to be done is because the city needs to quit pumping stuff down the line they currently have,” Zenger said, referring to the sewer line that runs along the shores of Liberty Bay between Liberty Bay Auto and the Marine Science Center. Since September 2003, Poulsbo and Keyport have spilled roughly 900,000 gallons of sewage into Liberty and Ne-Si-Ka bays. Both of Poulsbo’s spills, accounting for some 551,000

gallons, involved the line in question.

Once the pump station and force main are completed, it will be at least another year before the city can abandon the line, City Engineer Andrzej Kasiniak said.

“In June or July of 2007, we will abandon that line and not before that, because I need one piece between Lindvig and Bond,” Kasiniak said.

That piece is the Bond Road Force Main, which is currently in the design stage, and should be ready for construction in early 2007, he said.

Until it is completed, city crews will continue walking the shoreline to visually check for any potential leaks, Kasiniak said.