PRIEST RIVER — A possible ordinance to add speed bumps on select city roads was tabled by the council following a discussion at the city's Aug. 3 council meeting.

The policy stems from residents' concerns about speeding and excessive traffic on Bodie Canyon Road. After the council voted against reinstalling a gate on the road, residents asked if stop signs and speed bumps could be added to boost safety due to the large number of children who live in the area.

Before taking action, Priest River councilors said they would like to see traffic counts conducted around the city, not just on Bodie Canyon Road. Gabell said he would reach out to county and state officials to see if Priest River could borrow traffic counters to collect data on where — or if — additional traffic control and calming devices are needed.

While traffic volume and safety are a concern, councilors said it isn't realistic to add stop signs at every intersection or speed bumps on every road. Traffic counters can provide data, but they also serve as an attraction where everyone wants a count taken on their road.

"It opens a can of worms," Mayor Jeff Connolly said. "If you start putting these things out, then everybody wants them in every neighborhood. If you talk to any person, they're going to say that cars are speeding by their house and they want them slowed down. That's not exclusive to any neighborhood, that's all of them. So then you're creating a monster."

But, Connolly noted, the counters do provide concrete data that would help the city move forward in an appropriate way.

The ordinance would set minimum standards for the amount of traffic volume needed to trigger possible placement of traffic control or calming devices.

"You don't want to put traffic control devices on streets that get no traffic volume at all," Gabell said. "Why do you need to slow down when you only see five trips a day? So if the concern is cars speeding through places, then there has to be a real demand and need based on traffic."

Without a count, it's hard to say which of the city's streets see the most traffic or when, Gabell said. It can be less — or more — than people realize. Counts of key roads — as well as a definition of what streets are considered local — would help the city move forward in a logical way that eases problems instead of creating or adding to them.

While high traffic volumes don't make sense for local roads, that isn't the case when it comes to arterials and collector roads, Gabell said.

"Those are where you want to funnel traffic to," he added. "You don't want to slow them down when they're on those streets because then you have a traffic problem where everybody is slowing down and they're rear-ending someone because people are slowing down for speed bumps and they didn't notice."

While presented as an action item at the Aug. 3 meeting, City Planner Jake Gabell said it might be more appropriate for city officials to mull the idea over before voting to approve or reject the installation of speed bumps in the city.

"I think we need to clarify local collector and arterials and encroachments," Gabell told councilors. "... Really the meat of it comes with what would be a new 7-1-5 subsection, which would address traffic control and traffic calming devices."

If approved, the ordinance would add a fifth section to Priest River City Code, specifically addressing speed bumps, setting standards, rules and requirements for where they could be placed. The code revision would allow the city to evaluate requests for speed bumps, stop signs and other traffic control devices, said Gabell, who also serves as the city administrator.

By taking a slower approach, Gabell told councilors the city could ensure appropriate criteria are crafted to ensure traffic-calming devices such as speed bumps help address problems and not create them.

"It puts the onus on the person requesting to come in and really prove that something is needed (and) fill out an application," Gabell said. "We would have time to review it both internally with staff and externally with like our city engineer could have a chance to review it as well."

While the city can request traffic counters from the county or state if Priest River officials want to explore the addition of traffic control and calming devices, Gabell said the policy puts the onus on applicants to cover the costs if they wish to bring a request to the city.