QUILCENE — Single-lane roundabouts intended to reduce injury collisions at intersections west of the Hood Canal Bridge are expected to be operational in about three years.
State Department of Transportation officials unveiled their plans Thursday night during a community meeting that drew about 75 people to the Concerts at the Barn in Quilcene.
The agency is moving forward with a $4.6 million roundabout where state Highway 104 intersects with both Paradise Bay and Shine roads, and a $4.2 million roundabout farther west where state highways 104 and 19 connect.
The officials presented a design for the roundabout at Highway 104-Paradise Bay Road-Shine Road.
Alternatives preferred
But some Jefferson County residents think a roundabout isn’t the answer there. They would prefer a stoplight, or an overpass or underpass, according to questions raised Thursday night.
“This is a safety project,” said John Wynands, Transportation’s Olympic Region administrator.
“I know you don’t all agree with that. I see heads shaking from here.”
Design for both projects is expected to begin this fall, and a construction phase of about a year is planned to start in winter 2021.
Both projects are fully funded with Transportation safety dollars based on statewide data that prioritizes intersections with collision history.
County Public Works Director Monte Reinders and State Patrol Sgt. Brian George joined Wynands and Joseph Perez, Transportation’s Olympic Region planning and program manager, for a presentation during the project’s second open house.
An initial public meeting was conducted in February.
Perez said the intersection at Highway 104 and Paradise Bay and Shine roads handles about 17,800 vehicles daily with a posted 40 mph speed limit. There were 16 “at-angle collisions,” often called T-bones, that occurred between 2011-15, according to Transportation data.
One rear-end collision occurred during that time period, and there were two serious injury collisions, state data showed.
The state previously has installed intersection signs, flashing beacons and rumble strips to encourage drivers to slow down, particularly down the eastbound slope of Highway 104 toward the bridge, Perez said.
“The number of collisions have actually gone down if you increase that [five-year] time period,” he said, citing data that showed the interventions have had a positive impact.
There are similar conditions at highways 104 and 19, which see about 15,200 daily vehicles with a posted 60 mph speed limit. In the same five-year period ending in 2015, there were 19 T-bone collisions with three rear-end crashes and two serious injury collisions, according to Transportation data.
Perez said Transportation looked at three options to reduce those incidents: Do nothing, install a traffic signal or construct a roundabout.
“We are going to do something at this intersection to address the accident issue,” Wynands said. “But it will not necessarily help flush traffic after the Hood Canal Bridge opens.”
That elicited a groan from people hoping for congestion relief.
Questions submitted online and written prior to the meeting were combined into categories for the panel to answer.
Several addressed an overpass with on-ramps and off-ramps to help alleviate traffic.
Wynands said that would cost at least $30 million — funds the state doesn’t have — and it wouldn’t address the safety or volume issues through the intersection.
Others asked state officials to shut down Paradise Bay and Shine roads during bridge closures to keep drivers from trying to bypass traffic on Highway 104.
“We would like to see people not use it as a cut-through,” said Reinders, who added the county can’t limit access to those roads.
The roundabout will be designed to handle 1,800 vehicles per hour, keeping the level of service at an “A,” Perez said.
“Essentially, you have free-flow of traffic,” Wynands said.
A video played during the presentation showed how vehicles will approach and navigate through the roundabout, and it also provided a worst-case scenario for a tractor-trailer that turned left through the roundabout eastbound from Highway 104 onto Paradise Bay Road.
In that scenario, the back wheels of the trailer go up onto the rolling curb, which will be designed to handle the maneuver, Perez said.
After a bridge opening and at other times when traffic volumes are the heaviest, ramp meters on Highway 104 will briefly limit vehicles from entering the roundabout so traffic from both side streets can clear.
The ramp meters will turn off again once Paradise Bay and Shine roads have reduced volumes, Perez said.
The roundabout at highways 104 and 19 will be on a parallel construction path and may be awarded to the same contractor with similar production schedules, Wynands said.
Construction will be done in phases and include single-lane closures with access to emergency vehicles at all times, he said.
“Certainly, there will be impacts, but there aren’t really any other routes,” Wynands said. “Construction is not pain-free.
“Through our contractor, we will work to address them as best we can.”
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Jefferson County Managing Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 6, or at bmclean@peninsuladailynews.com.
This rendering provided by the state Department of Transportation shows a planned roundabout for the intersection of Highway 104 with Paradise Bay and Shine roads. (Department of Transportation)
