Buckley is seeking to drop speed limit on 410

By Shawn Skager

The Courier-Herald

The days of whizzing through Buckley's industrial core on state Route 410 could soon be over.

The City Council voted 6-0, with one absent councilmember, to pass an ordinance lowering the speed limit on SR 410 to 35 mph between Mundy-Loss Road and the Hinkleman Extension. Currently the speed limit is 45 mph in the area and 35 mph through town.

Prior to forwarding the ordinance, the city engineer conducted a traffic and engineering investigation, resulting in a recommendation to reduce the speed in order to minimize traffic hazards and reduce the amount of accidents on that stretch of road.

The recommendation was seconded by the Buckley Police Department and Chief Jim Arsanto.

According to City Administrator Dave Schmidt, roughly 25,000 vehicles pass through that section of road daily.

Although SR 410 falls within the administration of the Washington State Department of Transportation, the Revised Code of Washington grants cities and towns the authority to regulate and enforce traffic restrictions on state highways within their jurisdictions, subject to the approval of the Washington State Secretary of Transportation.

Schmidt stated in the regularly scheduled city council meeting that the ordinance would set into motion an investigation and study by the DOT into the feasibility of reducing the speed.

“One of the things they put a lot of weight on is the 90th percentile,” he said. According to Schmidt, the DOT investigates the number of vehicles that slow to speed below the posted speed limit, with special attention paid when 90 percent of the cars slow.

Shawn Skager can be reached at sskager@courierherald.com.

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