North Kitsap drivers aren’t getting much love of late as it seems the general attitude here is to create an unnavigable obstacle course of orange cones, dug up streets and construction workers who seem to take pleasure in flipping those hand held signs from “slow” to “stop” just before your car can pass.

After the hoops are cleared, Hansville and Little Boston residents are also now facing a county implemented 45 mph speed limit on the Hansville Road, marking a drop of 10 mph from where it was a few weeks ago. The rationale given was that the roadway — which is so true you could almost walk a straight line from Kountry Korners and end up in downtown Hansville — was that it was the only 55 mph road in the North End and, as a result, was dropped to conform with other speeds around the area.

With that type of thinking it’s a wonder our county public works department doesn’t get further in cahoots with the state and just set the speed limit at 25 mph everywhere and call it good.

Residential — 25.

Highways — 25.

Arterial feeders — 25.

It’d make it so much easier for everyone, right? Except, of course, those of us who have to get from Point A to Point B without shelling out big bucks for a driving infraction. But it seems drivers are taking a backseat to a heightened sense of safety.

One can surely argue that the Herald has flip-flopped on this issue, calling for safer driving but advocating what we feel are “realistic” speeds that not only adhere to safety needs but also help drivers get around like they aren’t lashed to the back of a gigantic slug.

And while slowing motorists slightly on Bond Road — from 55 mph to 50 mph — worked well with the addition of a long overdue stoplight at Gunderson, Hansville Road already had safety measures put in place during the past few years in the form of yellow blinking lights and left hand turn lanes at Little Boston and Eglon roads.

Even a 5 mph decrease would have been acceptable, in that it truly would have brought the road in line with others in North Kitsap at 50 mph. But 10 mph? Hmm. We wonder if someone is trying not so covertly to fill the county coffers by way of a new batch of speeding infractions.

So while motorists are dodging cones, potholes and backhoes, now they need to pay extra special care that they aren’t speeding on a road that now has a new, unrealistically low limit imposed. It’s bad enough that virtually every main artery in North Kitsap’s transportation body is clogged, but the congestion won’t be getting any better as residents continue to pour into the area only to find that what should be a half hour commute is taking 45 minutes.

Why not shoot for a cool hour?

This area is in such a rush to match up with the east side, why not get everyone used to 520-esque traffic jams now? The suspense is killing us and besides with all the work going on in the North End, we’re all getting used to it anyway.

The 25 mph speed limit might seem a bit far fetched, but for those of us who slog from one construction quagmire to the next, and look forward to everything from reduced limits to speed tables to round at the trip, it also seems like an inevitable reality for this area whether it’s imposed by the county or the traffic jams of the not-so-distant future.