Navigating Port Townsend's new roundabouts is a learning curve for most everyone, including local emergency services and law enforcement.

The speed limit on Upper Sims Way (State Route 20) remains 30 mph, but the roundabouts at Howard and Thomas streets are designed to slow traffic to at least 22 mph.

East Jefferson Fire Rescue (EJFR) is "carefully monitoring" the roundabouts and what they mean for emergency response times, said Bill Beezley, EJFR public information officer and public education specialist.

"Responses from our Lawrence Street station are minimally impacted by the roundabouts," Beezley said of crews based at the Port Townsend fire station in the Uptown district.

EJFR regularly dispatches crews from stations in Chimacum, 10 miles from Port Townsend, and Jacob Miller Road, a mile out of town, into the city limits. Those personnel and vehicles may use Sims Way or Discovery Road, the back way in and out of town between Mill Road (city limits) and Sheridan Avenue. Discovery Road, a narrow two-lane street, has been a detour route during Upper Sims Way construction.

But EJFR won't be using Discovery Road "any more than what we do now," said Deputy Chief Ted Krysinski of the Training and Operations Division. "Maybe during high vehicle census times an alternate route will be chosen to best accommodate responses and unit access."

Factoring in all types of travel (emergency, routine, command vehicles and regular hospital transports) there are about 1,000 EJFR trips on the Upper Sims Way corridor each month, said Beezley. About 50 percent of EJFR incident calls are inside the city limits, and two vehicles respond to almost every call, he noted.

Even during paving work on June 30, when one lane of Upper Sims Way was closed, an ambulance running code (lights and sirens) had direct access through the construction zone and out of town.

Police response

During construction, the Port Townsend Public Works Department has kept the Port Townsend Police Department appraised of the work schedule so officers can adjust their patrols as needed, said Sgt. Green.

When it comes to getting somewhere quickly, "the roundabouts have not had an impact on the police department's response times." Green said.

"We're unique in the fact that we operate in a sedan, so maneuvering is not a problem like the fire department may have," Green added.

Get out of the way

The median changes the available space for vehicles to pull off to the side when a police car or ambulance needs to get by. State RCWs require civilian traffic in all lanes of traffic give right of way to emergency vehicles with flashing lights. Regardless of the direction from which they are coming, drivers should pull over as far as possible, noted EJFR's Beezley.

"The reason I don't differentiate by direction is because emergency vehicles often need to swing out of their lane into center or even oncoming lanes in order to bypass stopped vehicles," Beezley said. "So oncoming vehicles should pull over to free their lane in case we need to use it, even if that means we need to cut through the median to briefly use the other lane."

Whether in the roundabout zone or any other place, "if they are in an area where pulling over still won't allow the emergency vehicle to pass, they should drive onto the first available area where pulling over will give us room to pass," Beezley noted.

In the case of the Upper Sims Way median, that could mean turning off the highway and into a driveway to clear the path. Vehicles in a roundabout need to fully exit the roundabout, Beezley said.

"The roundabout is designed to allow larger vehicles to drive on the inner, concrete section to bypass some autos, but if the entrance and/or exit of the roundabout is blocked by a vehicle, we cannot get through," Beezley said. "They must drive on through before pulling over" at the first available spot.

Right-in, right-out

Emergency services vehicles have successfully navigated all the new turning patterns created by the roundabouts.

EJFR's longest vehicle, the 45-foot ladder truck based in Port Townsend, had previously made all the roundabout turns with no problems. Trucks of all sizes are handling the traffic change just fine, said officials.

On June 24, EJFR’s Krysinski observed an ambulance and the 45-foot ladder truck test the turn lanes created by the new median. Roundabouts at Howard and Thomas streets, together with the median, have created a right-in, right-out turning plan off Sims Way.

There are only two places now to make a legal left turn: from the inbound lane onto Cliff Street to enter the business park, and outbound on Elm Street, which leads to Fourth Street on the road's south side, next to McClane's Café and Russ Hoover's office.

The familiar left turn from the outbound lane into the Westbay/NAPA and Les Schwab plaza will be illegal once the paving work is done, noted Sgt. Green. Likewise, it is not legal to cut across Sims Way using Cliff Street.

Why is the left turn from the outbound lane into the Westbay/Les Schwab plaza removed when the new curb still leaves enough room for the turn?

"Part of the reason is because inbound traffic will be making a left onto Cliff and that will create a potential head-on," Sgt. Green said.

And again, the corridor's concept is right-in, right-out, using the roundabouts to change direction, if necessary, to reach the right-in turn.

But the median at the Cliff and Sims intersection, allowing for the legal left turn from the inbound lane, still allows room for an outbound fire truck or ambulance to turn left in that space to reach the business plaza – and that's what they would do in an emergency.

Washington State Department of Transportation provides information on using single-lane roundabouts at wsdot.wa.gov/safety/roundabouts.