Planning for Safe and Accessible Streets
NKTA Board member, Dianne Iverson & her husband Paul Dukty, West Sound Cycling Club, have been advocating for safe and accessible streets in Kitsap County for many years. The past few years their focus was City of Bremerton. This past summer at a Friends of East Jefferson Trail Connection's regular public meeting for the Olympic Discovery Trail, they shaired their biking experiences in other regions and other countries. Last year, partnering with Leafline Trails Coalition, Cascade Bike Club and other local groups and jurisdictions, Dianne helped organize and participated in a "Policy Ride" for local elected officials on the Sound to Olympic (STO) Trail route from Poulsbo to Bainbridge Island ferry terminal.
Dianne is a double amputee, cyclist and trail advocate and together they share a tandem and a passion for cycling in other places for fun and research.
This past spring, as part of an adhock Citizens Advisory Group with NKTA and West Sound Cycling Club, they and other Poulsbo citizens rode bikes with Mayor Ed Stern around the town to show him first hand all the pedestrian & bicycle safety challenges at numerous intersections around the town. Paul then spent many hours measuring and creating a graphic presentation of numerous intersections around town showing existing conditions as well as conceptual "green-paint" safety improvements. Last month the Citizens Advisory Group presented these conceptual ideas to the City of Poulsbo engineering staff for possible safety improvements around the town, in coordination with the Sound to Olympics (STO) Trail and the town's collector trail route options thru old-town Poulsbo. Poulsbo plans to be 100% complete on their portion of the constructed STO inside city limits by the end of 2027.
Recently, Poulsbo awarded a design-engineering contract to improve the bus-pedestrian-bike safety on 8th Ave., Lincoln Road and Iverson Street near the SR 305 bus transfer station. Poulsbo is also "on-track" to obligate their portion of federal funding as part of the Puget Sound to Pacific (PS2P) Collaborative's $16.23 mil. R.A.I.S.E. Grant along the Lemola Shore-Fjord Drive bike-pedestrian "Ole-Town Loop" route to/from the STO on Johnson Parkway.
