POULSBO — Night driving on State Route 305 could take an interesting turn in July as sewer improvements from Bond Road to Hostmark Street would result in temporary intersection closures.

The work, which involves installing a force main along SR 305, is part of the necessary public works improvements tied to the Olhava development, said City of Poulsbo Project Engineer Andrzej Kasiniak.

Construction, pending city council approval, would begin at Bond Road and end just past Hostmark and would require one or two nights of work at each intersection in between, Kasiniak said.

The following intersections are expected to be affected by the construction:

SR 305 and Bond Road, SR 305 and NE Liberty Road, SR 305 and Lincoln Road and SR 305 and Hostmark Street.

During the closures, traffic would be detoured around the intersections. However, those routes are expected to be released at a later date as the construction start date approaches.

The council’s public works committee approved the idea even though members were concerned about the proposed timing of the work, which is slated to begin in July.

“It would have to be after the holiday weekend when nothing else is going on,” said Councilwoman Kathryn Quade, pointing out that Poulsbo’s annual 3rd of July celebration brings thousands of visitors to the city.

While the possible problems with noise and potential safety issues are concerns, the alternative is worse, Quade said.

“One of the main impacts was traffic and that’s why we are recommending to the council that they allow the work to be done at night,” Kasiniak said.

Crews would work on other parts of the project during the daytime, and take on the intersections after 7 p.m.

“They will begin marking the intersections at 7 p.m. and probably begin work at around 8 p.m. and wrap things up before the morning commute,” Kasiniak said.

While the city expects the work to go smoothly, Mother Nature could hinder progress with an unseasonable downpour, he said, noting, “We could deal with a small rain but if we had a large rain, we would look at postponing the project.”

Even though committee members gave their blessing to the proposal, they stressed the importance of giving the public enough notice to minimize the closures’ effects on traffic.

“It would have to be minimal and have lots of public notice so the public knows what’s going on,” Quade said.

Public Works Director Jeff Lincoln said his department plans on giving the public about one week’s notice before each closure, using highly visible signs.

“We think the thing that will work best is putting the notice on the big programmable signs along 305 a couple of days before work begins,” Lincoln said.