PORT TOWNSEND — “We survived.”
That was the message of an all-day open house and celebration Friday that marked the end of a 10-month project to revamp Upper Sims Way with ribbon cuttings and open houses.
“A year from now these improvements will be obvious,” said Deputy Mayor George Randals as the celebration, which drew about 50 people, began.
“We have a safer piece of road and that is the key.”
The $7.1 million project added roundabouts at Howard and Thomas streets, center medians, sidewalks and landscaping.
It widened the state Highway 20 entrance into town in moves intended to make the street more accessible to pedestrians and bicyclists.
“I’m still not fond of the solid median,” said Port Townsend Laundromat and Car Wash owner Bill Koenig. “But this really does look nice.”
Several merchants had expressed opposition to the roundabouts, favoring installation of more traditional traffic signals.
They also felt that the city was imposing unreasonable signage requirements, and that the planned landscaping and median strips made it hard for customers to access their businesses.
In May, the merchants met with city officials and voiced their displeasure, resulting in the hiring of a signage consultant who developed a compromise between the city and the businesses.
Only the beginning
Some of the merchants who were concerned about the renovations were among the 20 business owners participating in Friday’s event, but they did not express any support for the roundabouts themselves.
Merchants held two ribbon cuttings, for each direction of the new road.
Crafts Cottage owner Melanie Bozak said that city officials were invited to attend but not participate since “we wanted this to be about businesses and keep it unofficial.”
Mayor Michelle Sandoval attended, along with several council members.
Jefferson County Commissioner David Sullivan and East Jefferson Fire Rescue Chief Gordon Pomeroy also joined in.
City Manager David Timmons said that, while he was glad the project was finished, it was only the beginning.
Timmons said he would like to see similar road improvements all the way downtown.
This will have to wait, as the next major road project will be to extend Howard Street to Discovery.
Timmons said that large scale road improvement projects take about three years from start to finish and depend upon available state highway funds.
The first ribbon cutting took place at 11 a.m. and the second about 20 minutes later.
In between, several staff and council members arrived so the second was larger and rowdier.
Road rage
While the roundabouts have improved traffic flow, the dual ribbon cuttings resulted in an incident of apparent road rage at the Thomas Street roundabout.
When traffic in the roundabout stopped for the ceremony, one motorist got out of his car and yelled at another driver, according to Port Townsend Police Officer Bill Corrigan.
The cars sped off and were followed by police into the Highway 20 Roadhouse where both drivers were interviewed.
Corrigan said that no citations were issued because no crime occurred that was witnessed by police.
Shortly afterward, a southbound car made an illegal three-point U-turn in front of northbound traffic and in clear view of the gathered crowd.
There is some fine tuning left on the project. Landscaping is not yet complete. New signs will also be posted, both to direct traffic through the roundabouts and to specific businesses.
Judy Lundgren, owner of the Hilltop Tavern, expressed concern about drainage.
She said that, over the last few days, she had noticed water from the new sprinkler system was pooling in front of the restaurant and causing a possible hazard.
“If the sprinklers cause this, it will be a lot worse when the heavy rains come.” Lundgren said.
Lundgren had not reported this to the city offcials.
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Jefferson County reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
