The intersection of state Route 104 and Paradise Bay and Shine roads is getting a roundabout, regardless of the entirely negative commentary by members of the public who contributed verbal and written input to an open house prior to the Labor Day weekend.

The Washington State Department of Transportation often appeared at cross-purposes to area residents and commuters who attended WSDOT’s Aug. 29 question-and-answer session at the Trillium Woods Farm in Quilcene, with WSDOT’s panel of representatives emphasizing the primary priority they placed on improving traffic safety for the intersection, while the public repeatedly voiced its concerns with what a roundabout would do to traffic congestion.

After one attendee repeatedly asked if the roundabout would make congestion worse, WSDOT Region Administrator John Wynands finally said, “I suppose the answer is yes.”

The majority of the meeting’s running time was taken up by Wynands, WSDOT Planning and Program Manager Joseph Perez, Jefferson County Public Works Director Monte Reinders and Washington State Patrol Sgt. Brian George answering pre-submitted written questions from the public, with many attendees leaving the meeting during the break before live public testimony was accepted.

Jefferson County Public Utility District Commissioner Dan Toepper attributed the walkouts during the brief intermission to those attendees’ belief that “the cake is baked” and WSDOT had made up its mind, although roughly a dozen attendees did remain to address the panel in person.

Jefferson County Commission Chair Kate Dean said that she sensed “the collective anxieties” of the crowd, “since this will impact their businesses and their medical treatments,” before she characterized herself as “envious” that WSDOT “only has to deal with one problem here — safety — since I don’t get to do that in my job.”

While Perez emphasized that WSDOT’s conclusions about the relative safety of roundabouts was based on a wealth of national data — “We’re not just guessing about what’re doing here” — Wynands emphasized the budgetary realities facing WSDOT.

Perez had already explained that WSDOT ruled out an overpass due to its estimated $30 million price tag, when compared to the less than $9 million to install roundabouts at both the SR 104/Paradise Bay/ShineRoad intersection and the intersection of SR 104 and Beaver Valley Road.

Wynands elaborated that, even though Washington state’s gas tax of 49.4 cents per gallon is one of the most expensive in the nation, roughly 60 percent of that tax goes toward paying off the debt on specifically earmarked projects, leaving WSDOT with only the 8 cents per gallon that it started with.

While WSDOT has funds for safety, maintenance, transit, and even snow and ice removal, it does not have a designated fund to deal with congestion.

Nonetheless, several attendees asserted that traffic congestion is itself a safety issue, citing the instances in which stressful traffic jams and stop-and-go traffic flow can lead to driving accidents.

Ken Ackerman, who’s lived in Quilcene “all my 65 years,” warned that a roundabout would be a “disaster,” especially for truck traffic and the transportation of cranes and other large construction equipment.

Ackerman’s comments followed the playing of a CGI video by WSDOT, which simulated the turning arc of a semi-trailer truck around the proposed roundabout, and the path of its trailer during the simulated turn drew noises of concern from the crowd.

David Michael, who’s lived in Port Townsend for 30 years, was one of several commenters to note that they approve of roundabouts in other contexts, but not at this intersection, which he pointed out is the Olympic Peninsula’s only connection to Kitsap County.

Fellow PT resident Forest Shomer was echoed by Chimacum’s Jodi Lehman in criticizing WSDOT for basing its projections on non-peak periods for traffic flow through the intersection, with Shomer also dismissing Wynands’ comments on WSDOT’s budget by pointing to “the $4 billion hole in Seattle that all had to pay for.”

Barbara Blowers and Bill Trafton both advocated simply eliminating left turns off Paradise Bay and Shine roads, while Paula McAvoy cited the Federal Highway Administration’s guidance that “roundabouts should never be planned for metering or signalization,” contrary to WSDOT’s plans for this intersection.

“Rather than being like the rumble strips on the highways, that you had to remove and reinstall, you need to do this right the first time,” McAvoy said.

“I understand there’s a lot of concern about this,” Wynands said. “But from our perspective, this is our best option. We have to do something.”

Further details on this project can be found online at wsdot.wa.gov/projects/sr104/paradise-bay-shine-road/home.