KINGSTON — For at least six years, Kitsap County Commissioner Chris Endresen has fielded comments from residents concerning the need for traffic signals along Miller Bay Road.

When she announced at the Kingston Open House Feb. 27 they would finally be installed, she received a large round of applause.

Now, Endresen can finally say the projects are progressing. By fall, there should be three new traffic signals at key intersections along the busy road.

“One of the hardest things about this government is that it takes awhile before something happens,” Endresen said. “When it does happen, it feels good. It feels really good to get it taken care of.”

The two projects — one of which includes a signal at Miller Bay Road and West Kingston Road and the other which includes signals at Miller Bay and Indianola Road and at Miller Bay and Gunderson Road — have been in the works for years, said Kitsap County Public Works engineering senior manager Tina Nelson. The signal at Miller Bay and West Kingston was actually moved up to this summer to coincide with the opening of Kingston High School, which is expected to increase traffic at that intersection.

“We’ll probably have construction going at the same time,” Nelson said. “We’re hoping to have the intersection at Miller Bay and West Kingston ready and up and running before school starts. I doubt we’ll make it, because of the timeline and problems always come up, but that is our goal.”

Endresen put pressure on Public Works to get the projects going as soon as possible, and fast track the Miller Bay and West Kingston light from 2008 to 2007, Nelson said. The decision was made in November 2006 to begin work, and plans began evolving from there.

“The light at the end of West Kingston and Miller Bay has been something the (Kingston Citizens Advisory Council) has wanted for sometime,” said KCAC member Walt Elliott. “It’s something the community wanted for quite a while as well.”

The estimated construction cost of the signal at Miller Bay and West Kingston is $500,000, and the estimated cost of the other two is $2.8 million, Nelson said. The projects have yet to be bid.

“This just makes sense,” Endresen said. “We’ll be disrupting traffic only once, and most everybody is in favor of it. Those intersections are so dangerous.”