POULSBO — The initial impact of the long-awaited State Route 305 widening project began sinking in March 8 as the city council approved two detour routes.

“The impacts are going to be regional, so we need to give people sufficient notice,” Councilman Ed Stern said. “We need to fully understand the impacts and get out in front of them.”

The closures will affect motorists coming from the Bainbridge Island ferry terminal to Port Townsend and across the region, he said.

SR 305 will be closed between Forest Rock Lane and Liberty Road and State Route 307 will be closed between SR 305 and just east of Bernt Road, state transportation officials told council members. Both will be weekend closures only.

The closures will last from 9 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday on those weekends, which will be determined by the contractor.

During the SR 305 closure, traffic will be detoured up Forest Rock Lane and onto 10th Avenue before returning to the highway via Liberty Road.

During the SR 307 closure, traffic will be detoured along Stottlemyer and Lincoln roads before returning to SR 305.

“This work has to be done during the fish window which is from July 15 to Oct. 15,” said WSDOT representative Michele Britton.

Stern said that while he believes visitors will follow the designated detour routes, local drivers may not.

“People living in the 98370 ZIP code will be trying Sawdust Hill, Little Valley and other routes,” Stern said. “I think it will be a law enforcement question.”

During the widening project, five weekends have been removed from the list of possible closures in an agreement between the city and the state.

Those unaffected weekends will be: Viking Fest, Memorial Day weekend, July 3, Touch A Truck in August and the Classic Yacht Rendezvous in September.

While the council had little issue with the proposed weekend closures, the possible month-long closure of Lincoln Road between 8th and 10th avenues drew the most concern.

During the closure, traffic will flow in both directions along SR 305, but there will be no turn lanes onto Lincoln Road.

“If that work gets done when school’s in session, you’ll be putting hundreds of cars by the school,” Councilman Dale Rudolph said, adding that motorists could drive down Caldart Avenue, adding to the traffic on Hostmark Street.