Here’s your chance to let the state know about all those concerns you have about Hwy. 305 (also known as State Route 305 and “that blankety blank highway”, or “the deathtrap”).

The folks who will be doing the evaluation of the environmental impact of widening 2.2 miles of the highway everybody complains about are coming to town Tuesday, March 5. The WSDOT is hosting an open house/hearing from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Poulsbo Fire Station Community Hall, intersection of SR 305 and Liberty Road.

Fortunately, the hearing happens during evening rush hour. The fine folks from Olympia should be sure to leave very early, to have a prayer of getting through the traffic jam on Hwy 305 and be on time for the meeting. Then, hopefully they’ll take an occasional glance out at the traffic backed up along Hwy 305 while they meet (back-ups last until about 6:30 or 7 p.m.)

We hope they do a terrific job of explaining how widening the road and creating HOV (high-occupancy vehicle lanes) will solve the clog problem that plagues Poulsbo morning and night and nearly every weekend. We keep an eye on the cars (since there’s lots of time to do it while we sit in traffic) and most of them are occupied by one person––the driver.

We’re still puzzled how widening part of Hwy 305 to four lanes will do anything except worsen the bottleneck at the two- lane Agate Pass Bridge (which isn’t planned for remodeling).

We’d love to hear your questions and the answers from the WSDOT about backups, Dogfish Creek, flooding, bicycle lanes and a whole host of environmental issues.

We hope to see a large crowd there. Speak now, or forever sit in Hwy 305 traffic wondering if it will ever get better.