A fully functioning traffic signal was turned on today on Key Peninsula Highway in the Key Center area, replacing a flashing yellow beacon.

The light is the cornerstone of $2.2 million in improvements to the intersection of Key Peninsula Highway, Olson Drive KPN, and Cramer Road KPN.

A half-hour ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 30 in the parking lot of O’Callahan’s Pub and Grill, next to the intersection.

Besides the new traffic signal, the improvements include lights at all corners of the intersection, left turn lanes along Key Peninsula Highway, sidewalks, guardrails, and pedestrian crossings.

The roadway surrounding the intersection was widened from 24 to 44 feet to include paved shoulders.

Construction started in June. But the project’s concept dates back to 2004.

About 8,000 vehicles pass through the intersection on Key Peninsula Highway each day.

The rural area of unincorporated Pierce County is home to about 19,000 people, an increase of more than 70 percent since 1990.

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If you sail or power your boat up to the Longbranch Marina these days, you can actually get off of it and walk to land.

Use the portable toilets. Take a stroll. Check out the Longbranch Improvement Club.

Some 40 people gathered Monday for a ribbon cutting at the new wharf, which replaces an aging structure condemned and fenced off by Pierce County in September.

The wharf was the only way boaters using the Longbranch Improvement Club’s Marina at Filucy Bay could get from their craft to shore – without taking a swim, club president Geoff Baillie said.

That …

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Sophia Gregg snacked on a zesty soft taco during her lunch break Friday at Harbor Heights Elementary in Gig Harbor.

That might not sound different than the thousands of other lunches served every day in school cafeterias across the country, but the 11-year-old wasn’t eating a normal school meal.

Sophia and the 600 other kids Harbor Heights, as well as Voyager Elementary, are being served a healthier lunch menu that’s meant to increase fiber, limit salt and suger.
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Residents will get a chance to comment on a proposed increase to toll rates at the Tacoma Narrows Bridge on Tuesday.

The state’s Citizen Advisory Commission on tolls will meet from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., at the Gig Harbor Civic Center, 3510 Grandview St.

The committee will discuss the state Transportation Commission’s Jan. 21 recommendation to increase the toll from $2.75 per roundtrip to $3.25 per roundtrip for drivers with a Good to Go! electronic transponder. Drivers without a transponder would pay $5 a trip, a $1 increase to what they pay now.
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The Harbor History Museum could open to the public by summer.

It isn’t definite, but the group behind the 14,500-square-foot, waterfront museum says it’s possible. After receiving some large donations in recent months, the Harbor History Museum has raised $9.68 million toward its $11.4 million goal.

Jennifer Kilmer, the museum’s executive director, said the group is trying to sell a building that’s located near the future museum.

“If we’re able to sell the property within the next few months, I’m hopeful we can open this by summer,” she said today.

To find out more about the project or to make …

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The South Sound region does not lack for people admired as heroes. Recently, four fallen Lakewood police officers have taken the role. Many soldiers from Fort Lewis, living and dead, have worn the label.

Each year, the American Red Cross Mount Rainier Chapter presents a new class of Red Cross Real Heroes, nominated by community members. This year’s cast of 10 local recipients includes law enforcement rescuers, children saving their father from an insect sting, a boy saving his cousin from choking on a Puyallup Fair corndog, and a pair of school bus incidents.

They were honored at a …

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The Harbor History Museum is winning accolades, and it isn’t even open.

The museum announced today that it won the Antenna Audio Tour Contest, which asks organizations to give audio tours that showcase their museum or cultural site.

“The Harbor History Museum’s audio tour takes the listener on a journey from thousands of years in the past to peninsula life today,” according to the museum’s press release. “The narration complements the gallery exhibits by providing additional information and interesting facts on the history of the region, including native Americans, early explorers and pioneers, heritage and culture, and the growth of the peninsula through agriculture, industries, fishing and commerce.”

Here are a few samples of the museum’s winning entry (the MP3’s are located at the bottom of the screen).
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Drivers on the Kitsap Peninsula might have noticed their commutes were a bit easier the last three days.

That’s because state work crews opened the Burley Olalla interchange just north of the Pierce County line Wednesday. I wrote a story on the $25 million project back in 2007.

The state wanted to “open up” the only intersection on Highway 16. Cars on Burley Olalla Road used to have to cross four lanes of 50 mph traffic.
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