Revised designs for roundabouts and other improvements along Highway 305 are being presented this week in a series of open houses hosted by the Washington State Department of Transportation.
The conceptual plans include roundabouts on Highway 305 on Bainbridge Island at Adas Will Lane, Port Madison Road, and Day Road.
The new design for the Day Road intersection is the most expansive of the three proposed island roundabouts — and the one that may prove to be most controversial.
A conceptual drawing of the proposed new intersection includes not only a roundabout that will replace the existing traffic signal, but a rerouting of Phelps Road Northeast that will add a new northbound entrance to Highway 305 just north of the existing park-and-ride lot.
That new entrance to the highway could prove attractive to travelers who use short-cut routes along neighborhood streets to access Highway 305 and avoid traffic clogs south of Day Road. Residents on the west side of the highway have long complained about short-cut traffic on their neighborhood streets.
The existing link of Phelps Road to Day Road would also be retained but shifted eastward, closer to the Day Road Animal Hospital.
Other changes at the Day Road intersection include refuge islands (where pedestrians can wait before crossing the entire span of roadway) and more crosswalks.
The Washington State Department of Transportation — along with the cities of Bainbridge Island and Poulsbo, Kitsap County, Kitsap Transit and the Suquamish Tribe — has been studying potential improvements to a roughly 11-mile stretch of Highway 305.
Improvements between the Bainbridge ferry terminal and Hostmark Street in Poulsbo will be financed by $36.8 million that was set aside for Highway 305 as part of the “Connection WA Act,” approved by the Legislature in 2015.
Study strategies have been geared toward:
• Improving corridor safety and mobility;
• Addressing the constraints of the existing Agate Pass Bridge;
• Providing multi-modal incorporation through and across the corridor;
• Increase the ability to move people and improving the corridor capacity overall;
• Providing travel time reduction and reliability;
• Addressing access needs for adjacent properties; and
• Protecting and enhancing the environment.
WSDOT’s timeline for the Highway 305 improvements envision completing the design of the project’s Phase 1 (the roundabout at Johnson Road in Poulsbo) by the end of 2019, with construction on that phase starting early next year.
Phase 2 includes the roundabouts at Day Road, Ada’s Will Lane and NE Port Madison Road.
Design for that phase is expected to wrap up in June 2020, with construction starting in July and continuing for nearly a year.
Design of Phase 3, which includes improvements at the Sportsman Club
Road intersection with Highway 305, is expected to finish by the end of 2020, with construction following in the the first quarter of 2021.
The WSDOT open house on Bainbridge will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, at Bainbridge Island City Hall.
The final open house is 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 11 at Poulsbo City Hall (200 NE Moe St.).
WSDOT has also set up an online open house that will share information on the project and accept comments through Thursday, May 9. The online open house is at sr305improvements.com.
