OH THE PAIN

An open-house-style public hearing was held last night April 19, 2005. The meeting was held West Hills Elementary, 520 S. National Ave., Bremerton. The purpose was to gather public input on the adequacy of the Environment Assessment (EA) done by the Washington State Dept. of Transportation. This EA was on the Bremerton Ferry Tunnel.

I came prepared for this meeting . It was scheduled to start at 4:30 pm which was just perfect because it gave me time to go downtown and count the offloading of the 3 o'clock ferry from Seattle arriving at Bremerton at about 4 pm, as I had done on April 14th for the 8:45 from Seattle.

For reference there were 64 cars on the April 14th run, with 24 cars turning left on Burwell while 40 continued north on Washington. So 62% went North while only 38% turned left which is the street the $28 million dollar Tunnel dumps the cars on.

In my count tonight (4/19) the total car count was 158 with 39 turning left on Burwell and 119 going north on Washington. This time 75% went north while only 25% turned left on Burwell. The two runs combined is 28% turning left on Burwell while 71% continue North.

I bought a CD called Downtown Bremerton Pedestrian/BTC Access Improvements Project for $5.00. It contains all of the various studies used in this Tunnel project.

Since I'm interested in the traffic flow I went to the section on the CD dealing with traffic, it's called '2005 Traffic Volume Projections'.

Here is a portion of what the study says.

While the Downtown Circulation Study estimated that in 2005 approximately 55 percent of the traffic leaving the BTC would use the tunnel/surface route, and approximately 45 percent would use Washington Avenue, that split does not account for the increased vehicular traffic associated with the new Kitsap Federal Credit Union or the "Kiss-n-Ride" lot adjacent to it. As areas along Washington Avenue continue to develop and the previously unaccounted for local traffic becomes a factor, the split for traffic exiting the BTC is projected to be 65 percent using the tunnel/surface route, and 35 percent using the Washington Avenue Route. This 65/35 percent split is used for analysis of the year 2030 traffic volumes and impacts contained in this report.

It's funny how the numbers are just the mirror opposite of my findings. I didn't include it here but the study talks some hocus-pocus on how they get their numbers. To me it's pretty simple if a car turns left on Burwell it counts as ONE for the Burwell group while on the other hand if a car goes north it counts as ONE for the Washington group. Pretty simple huh.

I asked the so called traffic expert why the numbers didn't match a little closer and he said they added in projections and additional traffic due to downtown improvements. I'm telling you I don't have a degree in Traffic management but I've live here in Bremerton for over 30 years and if you have ever driven through downtown Bremerton it is not awash with pedestrians or cars.

When I got to the meeting they had displays setup on the two alternatives - a tunnel and a surface fix.

This was not your normal public meeting were people provided testimony by standing up and talking. Rather there was a court reporter to take your testimony. Others could submit written comments (that's what I did) or chose to go home and submit e-mails or write letter explaining their concerns.

The Bremerton Sun reported:

Neal Campbell, project manager for the state, said the hearing accomplished his agency's goal. "I've had an opportunity to talk to a lot of people, and I'm hearing a lot of both types of comments, both for and against," he said. Campbell said that state Department of Transportation officials plan to respond to all of the testimony, which could take weeks.

We shall see, I'll keep you posted.

Neal Campbell went on to say: "It really allows us to communicate better," he said. "If you get the stand-on-the-soapbox hearing - which is what I call the other kind - you find that not as many people get a chance to talk because you have time limitations and some are just scared to get up."

Is he nuts??? I was at this meeting it is less open plus you don't get to feel the attitude of the other people. You don't get to hear other peoples questions and more importantly the presenters answers. To me this was a waste of time. They had their results going in...no new information was gathered.

The Sun article said: Several members of Citizens against the Tunnel, or CATT, were on hand. Some grumbled about the open house format. "This is a dog and pony show," Del Knauss said. "We need a true public hearing on it." Knauss and members of CATT believe that building a tunnel is a waste of taxpayer money, and that a surface alternative would be cheaper and more reasonable. Knauss filed a motion with the state Court of Appeals in Tacoma in September, requesting a hearing on a Kitsap County Superior Court ruling that denied an initiative vote on the tunnel. He said a court date for the appeals hearing is scheduled for May 9.

To me the bottom line is that even with the majority of the people in Bremerton not wanting this Tunnel it will be built. There is to much money and political mussel behind it. They can not see it fail now.

Remember these city council names Daren Nygren, Mike Short, Will Maupin, Dianne Robinson and Carol Arends. By their vote they said you didn't have the need or right to vote. You can change that in the next election.

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