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Pasco releases draft citywide speed-management study; residents push for mobile enforcement
Summary
Consultants presented a draft Citywide Injury Minimization and Speed Management Implementation Project identifying corridors with excessive speeds, recommending new signage, radar feedback and traffic-calming devices; residents near Road 96 said cushions shifted speeding into adjacent streets and urged mobile camera enforcement.
City staff and consultant CITECH presented a draft speed-management study to the Pasco City Council on Sept. 23 that maps speeds across the city, identifies corridors with speeds exceeding posted limits and outlines a policy and implementation toolkit aimed at lowering serious crashes.
Sean Messner of CITECH said the study followed national guidance, collected data at 103 sites (speed, volume and vehicle classification) and used the 80th-percentile speed as the primary input for establishing speed limits on arterials and collectors. Messner said the study flagged corridors where observed speeds were more than 10 mph above posted speeds and recommended a data-driven speed-limit policy, more speed-limit signage, radar-feedback displays, targeted traffic-calming devices and adjustments to striping and signal timing where appropriate.
Council members asked about enforcement options and whether mobile speed cameras should be used. Councilmember Milne advocated serious consideration of a mobile camera program and asked staff to explore feasibility and site placement. Messner said the study is in draft, under review by city staff and Pasco Police Department, and that final recommendations and designs would follow after that review, with implementation expected to move into design within a few months.
Multiple residents raised public comments during the workshop, describing localized effects from recent installations on Road 96 and Bellflower. Dawn Griffiths and other neighbors said speed cushions on Road 96 had caused accelerating motorists to use adjacent streets (Bellflower, Prairie) and that some stretches now feel unsafe; Griffiths said there had been no study of their specific block. Council members asked staff to add Bellflower to subsequent studies and to evaluate measures (for example, candlesticks or funneling devices) that prevent drivers from weaving around cushions.
Messner said effectiveness checks and remeasurement are recommended and that speed studies should generally be updated every two to three years and remeasured after specific implementations. He emphasized that engineering, education and enforcement must be coordinated so that any posted speed limit is supported by enforcement capacity.
Ending: The study remains in draft and under staff and police review; staff expects to finalize the study and move toward design and implementation in the coming months, and council asked staff to follow up on community requests for localized remeasurement and enforcement options.
