Renton presents traffic‑calming plan, lists local speed‑cushion projects and evaluation rules

Blake Cost, a transportation engineer with the City of Renton, presented the city’s traffic‑calming program and walked council members through how resident complaints become engineered treatments. The program uses a two‑tier approach: Tier 1 measures such as signing and driver‑feedback signs are installed first, then staff collects speed data; if speeding persists a year later, staff may advance a location to Tier 2, which can include speed cushions, curb extensions, lane‑narrowing or roundabouts.

The presentation explained how staff evaluate and prioritize projects. Engineers use the 85th‑percentile speed, counts of speeders, presence on school walk routes or bus stops, pedestrian activity and crash history to rank locations. Before building Tier 2 hardware, staff survey residents directly affected by the project; Cost said a minimum of 65% resident support is required to proceed to design…