Driving along cratered Crawford Road is almost enough to shake a person’s teeth loose.

But residents who own property along a rural stretch of Crawford Road were rattled in a different way Wednesday.

At a meeting to discuss potential improvements to the rural road, Island County Commissioner Mike Shelton said that if the county builds an arterial road past Porter Field Airpark, the speed limit will most likely be set at 50 mph. The current speed on Crawford Road is 25 mph, and the paved portion of the road contains a series of speed bumps.

County officials held a well-attended open house at Bayview Corner last week with civil engineering consultant firm Otak, Inc. to talk about improving Crawford Road.

Currently, only about two-tenths of a mile of Crawford Road north of Highway 525 is paved. After that, the road leading to Porter Field South Whidbey Airpark is private.

Once paved, however, the finished project will be designated a public county road for its entire length.

Otak, a civil engineering firm based in Kirkland, is preparing the preliminary design study. Originally, the idea was to hook up with a private road running to the airpark from Highway 525, allowing paved access all the way.

Residents along the road, though, had some questions:

• Will the county put in bike trails and pedestrian walkways?

• How wide will the road be?

• Will the road be an arterial like Maxwelton Road or simply a neighborhood connector route, such as Coles Road?

• What about speed bumps?

• How much will it cost and who will pay?

Property owner Ray Gabelein insisted the county talk straight about its cost estimates.

“I hope you’re clear with people — they’re either paying for it or not,” he said.

Owners along the road were asked if they supported improving the private portion of Crawford Road, as well as a new section of roadway that would connect Highway 525 from the south to Crawford Road at the airpark.

County engineer Randy Brackett said the South Whidbey Parks & Recreation District had recently assumed control of land just north of the highway, and a developer had bought 120 acres north of that, next to the airpark.

It might be possible for the county to construct a new section of road, he said, bypassing the private, paved section of Crawford, but only if it could be done economically.

“The county would like to see right-of-way donated rather than pay for it, so building a road across or next to those properties would work,” Brackett said.

“That’s why we can’t say right now who will pay for the improvements or how much it will cost,” he said.

At that point Shelton dropped his “50 mph” bombshell, and also reminded the crowd that the county does not install speed bumps on its roads. He added that the limit would apply to a new county road being constructed, and not what was originally planned.

Otak engineer Dawson was surprised at the turnout for the open house.

“The meeting was very open and we received a lot of great feedback which we’re processing,” he said. “As to the speed limit issue, it’s too early to tell; we haven’t even begun to discuss the parameters of the road yet.”

After crunching the data, Otak will report to county commissioners their findings before mid-March, then hold more public gatherings to lay out the next steps of the project.

Jeff VanDerford can be reached at 221-5300 or jvanderford@southwhidbeyrecord.com.