Regional traffic-count program shows rising travel on Keene Road and local shifts in West Richland

Tanner Martin, a regional planner at the Benton-Franklin Council of Governments, presented results from the agency’s regional traffic-count program to the West Richland City Council on May 6, showing Keene Road as the city’s most-traveled corridor and several local locations with large year-over-year shifts.

The program, launched in 2016, uses bidirectional pneumatic tube counters to record vehicle volumes, vehicle type and speed during midweek collection windows in spring and fall. Martin said, “In 2024, we collected a total of 17,718 sites, and 44 of those were located in the city of West Richland.” He told council the BFCOG system remains tube-based even as other jurisdictions test camera- and AI-based counting methods and that the agency will review alternatives in a 2026 program.

Why it matters: the counts inform travel-demand modeling, congestion-management work and regional infrastructure investments. Martin said the top three roadways for West Richland were Keene Road, Van Giesen and Bombing Range. The analysis identified seven of the region’s 50 highest-volume locations inside West Richland and flagged four local locations with the largest fluctuations over time.

Key findings presented to the council included: - Keene Road (east of Bombing Range) recorded the highest average daily traffic within the city. - A count location on Kennedy Road west of Keene showed an almost 72% increase compared with past counts, an outlier Martin described as “very large.” - Bombing Range north of Norma Street recorded the largest decrease at nearly 17%. - Van Giesen west of South 40th decreased roughly 7% from earlier counts. - Heavy-vehicle share at the most trucked location, Bombing Range north of Norma, was relatively low (about 6.5%).

Mayor Brent Gary praised the presentation, saying it “shows a lot — a lot of movement and most likely probably related to the residential growth that we're seeing out here in West Richland.” Council members asked technical questions about the tube counters’ speed detection and the program’s sampling windows; Martin explained tubes infer speed from axle spacing and that counts are intentionally scheduled midweek and outside major school-break periods to capture typical travel patterns.

Martin emphasized the program’s value for prioritizing projects and noted BFCOG collected in 2024 after skipping 2020 because of COVID-19 travel anomalies. He and council members said the data will feed into regional prioritization of road improvements and future grant applications.

The presentation concluded with councilmember appreciation and a pledge to consider the findings when planning local capital work.