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Auburn officials present transportation safety plan and expand school‑zone photo enforcement
Summary
Public works staff described a 20‑year comprehensive transportation plan, a safety action plan aiming to cut serious crashes and a school‑zone photo enforcement program that staff say reduced speeding to about 2% in monitored zones.
City public‑works staff summarized multi‑year transportation planning and an active enforcement program aimed at reducing serious crashes and improving neighborhood traffic safety.
A spokesperson from the public‑works department said the city completed a comprehensive transportation plan (20‑year outlook) and a comprehensive safety action plan focused on reducing fatal and serious‑injury crashes—setting a goal to reduce those crashes by at least 30% by 2040 and ultimately to zero. After analyzing five years of crash data (2018–2022) the department reported contributing factors: distracted driving (~18%), driving under the influence (~15%), collisions with fixed objects (~24%), turning movements (~19%) and high speeds (~18%); staff said 59% of fatal or serious crashes occurred on about 6% of the roadways, prompting identification of six safety‑emphasis corridors.
The city described an active traffic‑calming program and said two Southeast Auburn neighborhood studies are near completion, with additional projects in design for 2025–26. Public works also promoted an interactive project map on the city website and encouraged residents to use the SeeClickFix app for non‑emergency requests.
On automated enforcement, staff said Auburn operates school‑zone photo enforcement at eight school zones with 12 cameras and that the program currently pays for itself. The presenter said the system has generated about "78 100 warnings and over 37,000 infractions" since it began in September 2023 and that observed noncompliance in camera zones fell from about 27% to about 2%. The department noted a 2025 state law change enabling certain arterial speed enforcement and said it will study locations in 2025 with potential deployment in 2026 at up to three arterial locations.
City staff framed the approach as combining engineering, enforcement and education—targeted investments and enforcement where crash data are concentrated, plus neighborhood traffic‑calming programs.
