Get a $250 ticket for this cheat around long Kennewick traffic lights
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- Kennewick drivers cutting through lots to skip traffic face $250 fines starting this year.
- Officers will conduct targeted patrols at high-risk intersections like Steptoe-Victoria.
- City will post warning signs as businesses report over 100 cut-throughs daily.
Tri-City drivers who find themselves cutting through gas station parking lots, private property or driveways to avoid long lines at Kennewick stoplights could get a $250 fine.
Kennewick police will now begin enforcing fines for illegal “cut-through trips” that risk gnarly collisions between motorists and pedestrians.
The ordinance approved by the city council went into effect Sept. 24.
Special Services Commander Isaac Merkl said officers will begin doing emphasis patrols in areas where they’ve had the most problems with people taking shortcuts.
Some local businesses are seeing as many as 120 vehicles a day cut across their private property to beat traffic.
One particular spot of concern is the Steptoe-Victoria streets intersection near Costco, where drivers try to avoid the c-curb. To help educate the public, the city plans to install two signs along Steptoe to warn motorists of the new law.
“It’s dangerous to have a large volume of cut-through traffic in private parking lots because drivers are backing out of parking spaces and patrons are trying to make it safely back to their vehicles,” Merkl said.
Mayor Gretl Crawford, a home builder, said she sees the issue on her own property frequently.
“It is a potential liability for the property owner, and the drivers are not going through the lot to access the businesses. This type of traffic pattern is happening in several areas throughout town because of the growth of the city and all the additional vehicles.,” she said.
The law does not apply to police, fire or any emergency vehicle.
A driver who leaves one roadway and enters another by crossing any public or private driveway or parking lot without stopping could be cited for the violation.
