Whitman County Truck Route Study

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Frequently asked questions:

What is the purpose of this study?
This goal of this study is to examine various innovative and practical solutions to reduce heavy truck traffic and regional freight movement within the Pullman downtown area, while providing safe, reliable, and practical alternative route(s) for freight movements.

Welch Comer Engineers, in partnership with Kittelson and Associates, was selected for the study through a qualifications-based competitive process. 

The Palouse Rural Transportation Planning Organization (RTPO) secured a grant from the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to fund the study.

The outcome of this study will be an understanding of freight travel patterns in and around Pullman, and a list of practical alternatives for moving truck traffic through and around Pullman in a way that avoids downtown when not absolutely necessary. The final study will be presented to the Palouse RTPO Policy Board for adoption in June. If adopted, WSDOT, the Palouse RTPO, and local agencies (City of Pullman and Whitman County), can work together to identify funding to support implementation of alternative solutions provided by the study.
No. While reducing truck traffic in downtown Pullman is the goal, there will always be some truck traffic that must access downtown businesses for delivery of goods.
Yes! The local agriculture and farming community members are major stakeholders for this study. We are reaching out to them directly to learn about their truck travel patterns now and how they could be improved and/or would be impacted by alternatives that are identified during this study.

In the past there have been studies that identified costly ring roads and various routes around Pullman that are sometimes referred to as bypasses. This study is focused on identifying various practical solutions and alternatives for optimizing the performance of existing roadways, making them more efficient and/or attractive to freight traffic to meet the goal of reducing the number of trucks in downtown Pullman. This study doesn’t take the place of those previous identified “bypasses,” but rather supplements them with more practically attainable alternatives specifically for freight. 

The engineering firm will conduct the study and deliver a series of recommendations. The Palouse RTPO Transportation Policy Board will review the recommendation and vote on whether or not to accept it. Assuming the recommendation is accepted, RTPO will move on to the next stage of working with the State of Washington to secure funding and rights of way.

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