Port Ludlow residents are continuing their efforts to make their streets safer, and have proposed slower speed limits and more traffic signs for their neighborhoods.

Members of the Port Ludlow Village Council’s Roadway Safety Committee spent time March 21 debating the finer points of the draft proposal they’d submitted in February to Jefferson County.

Committee chair Steve Frenzl and community member-at-large Allan Kiesler handled the bulk of the March 21 presentation at The Beach Club in Port Ludlow, with Frenzl noting that the absence of key county officials in March and April made it likely that further discussions between the county and the committee wouldn’t begin in earnest until May, before a final public forum takes place in May or June.

SPEEDING AN ISSUE

“The biggest problem, I think we all can agree, is people speeding,” said Frenzl, who elaborated that, while the posted speed limit is 40 miles per hour throughout much of Port Ludlow, it can go as low as 10 mph and as high as 50 mph, “with no internal consistency that I can tell.”

Frenzl likewise criticized what he sees as “confusing, inconsistent [traffic] signage,” with Larry Nobles pointing out that only white traffic signs indicate the actual speed limit, while yellow signs merely indicate suggested speed limits.

“I’m not sure we want more people to know that,” Frenzl replied, laughing, even as he argued that 40 mph is too fast for many areas.

Although AARP already offers adult driver education courses in the area, Frenzl proposed that one- to two-hour seminars be provided as an alternative to AARP’s eight-hour sessions. He added that the father of Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Brandon Przygocki had volunteered his father to teach a course.

“Whatever the eventual results of our campaign, we’re already seeing progress,” Frenzl said. “Sheriff’s patrol cars are driving through Port Ludlow more often, which helps enforce the speed limits we have.”

The committee’s current recommendation is that many of the areas that are 40 mph now should be reduced to 35 mph. Frenzl would welcome reducing it even further in some areas, to 25 mph, but he doubts that such a recommendation would be adopted.

“The bottom line is, the current speed is dangerous to pedestrians, especially with the trail crossings,” Frenzl said. “We have trails that cross Oak Bay Road four times, but there are no indicators in the road for those trail crossings.”

BLIND CURVES

The committee is also calling for posting signs to indicate blind curves along the road, especially approaching busy intersections. While the committee has also proposed more streetlights and trimmed-back vegetation as ways to increase visibility, Kiesler echoed Frenzl in suggesting that the blind curves are a prime example of the need for lower speeds and more signage.

“We’re going to get someone killed someday if we don’t do this,” Frenzl said. “We need to be proactive, and not wait until after someone has died.”

Kiesler further proposed that the intersection of Oak Bay Road with Paradise Bay Road and Osprey Ridge Drive, already a four-way stop, should be enhanced with marked crosswalks, warning signs and flashing, solar-powered stop signs.

“And the intersection of Oak Bay Road and Walker Way has the most accidents in all of Port Ludlow,” Kiesler said. “There’s no crosswalk there. There’s not even a sign to The Beach Club. From Walker Way to Swansonville Road, the shoulders are horrible for pedestrians, and there are bus stops, but no signs for them.”

Where Oak Bay Road goes downhill from Swansonville Road to Walker Way, Kiesler would welcome a reduction of the speed limit from 35 mph to 25 mph, as well as posting signs warning of the “limited sight distance.”

THREE-POINT TURNS

No less harrowing was Frenzl’s account of school bus routes around the intersection of Oak Bay Road and Olympus Boulevard.

“Those buses can’t use the Port Ludlow Fire & Rescue station to turn around, just in case there’s an emergency and those trucks get called out,” Frenzl said. “So they have to do three-point turns in the road four times a day. There at least need to be some warning signs there.”

On a more positive note, just as Frenzl opened the presentation by noting the increased patrols that the campaign had yielded, he closed his portion of the presentation by reporting that the Sheriff’s Office had informed him that it’s applied for and received grants to purchase portable radar signs and a new radar wagon, to be used in Port Ludlow and around Jefferson County as traffic-slowing measures.

When audience members were given their turn to comment, most called for the committee to find ways of simplifying the proposal.

“If we post signs saying that the speed limit is 35 mph unless otherwise posted, that will put people on notice,” David McDearmid said.

“If we put up this forest of signs, it will be confusing to people,” Bev Browne added.

“This is probably twice what we’ll actually wind up getting,” Frenzl conceded.

Frenzl anticipates further meetings with the Ludlow Maintenance Commission, the South Bay Community Association, traffic Deputy Przygocki, Jefferson County Public Works director/county engineer Monte Reinders and assistant director Eric Kuzma to hash out the details.

“What really helps is that we’ve developed these personal relationships with people at the county,” Frenzl said. “Having friends makes a difference.”