Letters to the Editor
Letter to the Editor | Purdy lane cut costs the Key Peninsula and gives it nothing
On Sept. 16 and 17, WSDOT cut southbound SR 302 between the Purdy Bridge and Burnham Drive to one lane and turned the right lane into a shared-use path. The change followed the February crash that killed a driver turning left from Burnham onto northbound 302.
That crash deserved a response, and part of this project is one. WSDOT now bans that left turn from Burnham. WSDOT’s own review found roundabouts feasible at both Purdy intersections, but they are unfunded. The lane cut is a different matter. It ends before the Burnham and Goodnough intersection, where the road opens back up to three southbound lanes. WSDOT says the lane cut is meant to slow drivers and prevent last-minute merging near SR 16.
For Key Peninsula residents, SR 302 is the only practical way off the peninsula. Eastbound drivers turning right onto Purdy Drive used to have their own lane. Now they zipper merge into the through lane, and the morning backup on the Purdy Spit costs time none of us had to spare.
WSDOT says its analysis shows no change in level of service. Both intersections were already rated F at peak times, so “no change” is a low bar. WSDOT has promised legislators it will publish its traffic studies and design drawings.
Then there is the path. Key Peninsula residents have needed a safe way to walk or bike along 302 for years. Pierce County’s Key Peninsula community plan supports wider shoulders on 302 and asks WSDOT to consider a regional trail along it. The state finally built walking and biking space on 302. It put that space on the Purdy side of the bridge, miles from where we live, and paid for it with the lane we use to get off the peninsula. We lost the lane and got a path we can’t reach.
WSDOT has traffic studies it hasn’t shown us and roundabouts it hasn’t funded. It should deliver both before it spends another Key Peninsula lane on a path in Purdy.
Fletcher Bonds
Gig Harbor/Key Peninsula