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City awards $50,000 contract for technical downtown traffic study, staff to gather stakeholder input
Summary
The City of Port Angeles awarded a $50,000 professional services agreement to a Roseville, California firm to collect traffic counts, run traffic models (Synchro) and analyze proposed alternatives in downtown. City staff stressed the study's technical focus — counts and modeling — and said stakeholder engagement and policy choices will drive what
The Port Angeles City Council approved a $50,000 professional services agreement Sept. 15 to fund a technical traffic study for the downtown area. Staff said the consultant will collect traffic counts, run Synchro modeling and analyze alternatives so staff and the public can evaluate the traffic effects of lane‑direction changes, access limits or other downtown design options.
Scope and rationale: City staff and traffic consultants emphasized the contract pays for technical work — counts, engineering modeling and a formal analysis — rather than producing final design recommendations. City Engineering and transportation staff said earlier planning work (including a 2009 downtown study and more recent Complete Streets work) produced ideas; staff want up‑to‑date traffic data and modeling to test realistic alternatives and to show the traffic impacts of any changes.
Funding and selection: The $50,000 contract was presented as part of the city’s Capital Facilities Program; staff recommended awarding Professional Services Agreement PSA‑2025‑45 to the firm listed in the meeting packet as based in Roseville, California. Council approved the award and authorized the city manager to execute the contract documents.
Council and staff comments: Council members praised the technical focus of the scope; staff said the field data and modeling are prerequisites to any defensible downtown design changes. Transportation staff noted some downtown pedestrian access features (for example, the Laurel Street stairs and Oak Street zigzag) are separately identified projects in the capital plan, but added they could be considered as context for the traffic analysis.
Action taken: Council unanimously approved the professional services agreement and authorized contract execution. Staff said consultant work will be coordinated with stakeholder outreach and that alternatives identified through that input will be modeled and returned to the council for policy decisions.
What’s next: Next steps are consultant kickoff, collection of field traffic counts, stakeholder outreach led by city staff and technical model runs; staff said they will bring model results back for council consideration of alternatives and any subsequent design or funding choices.
Speakers at the meeting included City Engineer Jonathan Baum, Transportation Engineer Timothy Hayes and City Manager Scott Curtin, who introduced the item. The name of the consultant is recorded in the council packet as based in Roseville, California.
