Little Valley Road closes to through traffic
Published 10:36 am Monday, November 10, 2014
POULSBO — Kitsap County officials have long talked about the pending closure of the intersection of Little Valley Road and Bond Road. That talk comes to action in November.
The connection between Bond Road and Little Valley Road will permanently close on Nov. 12. It has recently carried higher loads of traffic than designed between Forest Rock Lane and Bond Road.
“Little Valley Road was not designed for the amount of traffic to which it is now subjected,” said County Commissioner Robert Gelder in a press release. “Because of the critical areas along the roadway, like slope and Dogfish Creek, there isn’t the ability to improve the corridor to support an urban level of service.”
The closure comes just beyond county staff estimates, which slated the cutoff for sometime between September and October.
A turnaround has been constructed at the end of Little Valley Road where the connection to Bond Road was.
According to the county’s website, nearly 1,000 trips per day were being taking on Little Valley Road, much more than the 30 to 50 local access trips it was expected to take on. Little Valley’s lane width, lack of shoulder, sharp curves, limited sight distance and steep grade makes it inadequate to serve through traffic. The county did consider bringing the road up to code to serve the higher volume of cars, but it is cost prohibitive.
