City Council approves keeping Auburn Way South speed camera

Published 2:10 pm Thursday, August 13, 2026

The Muckleshoot Tribe claimed that Auburn’s plan to use an automated traffic safety camera to enforce speed limits on busy Auburn Way South, the principal route in and off the reservation, would disproportionately affect Tribal members vendors, guests and businesses.

That was among the concerns the Tribe cited about the unintended consequences of a plan it believed the city had not analyzed sufficiently.

The Auburn City Council on Aug. 3 passed a resolution declaring the camera at its present location is “consistent with state law,” and supports the city’s goal of “reducing and eventually eliminating serious injuries and fatal crashes on city streets.”

So when will police start issuing infractions instead of mere warnings to the lead footed?

Public Works Director Ingrid Gaub said the sign has been on warning mode for so long, “we could anticipate doing some additional…variable message signage at the location of the camera to provide a minimum of two weeks notice for the public to know when infractions are going to start.”

Council members Brian Lott and Cheryl Rakes voted against the resolution.

The resolution, based on new analysis supplemental to the city’s original 2025 camera study, claims the camera significantly reduced excessive speeding during the minimum, 30-day, public warning period state law demands but did not impact traffic volumes “in any significant way” on Auburn Way South.

“The conclusions drawn from this analysis.” internal city documents conclude, ”are that the speed camera placement has not shown itself to be a deterrent to motorists using this route, but the impact on calming speeds will provide a clear safety benefit to everyone who uses this road, including Tribal members.

“The additional analysis and information explored with this supplement to the Camera Study provide clear and indisputable evidence that the speed camera on Auburn Way South will not have negative impacts to the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe …The information points to the opposite being true.That is, not placing a speed camera on Auburn Way South would be forfeiting an opportunity to correct the inequity suffered by Tribal people who experience a disproportionate higher rate of pedestrian injury and deaths due to crashes than non-Tribal people.”

According to the resolution, a comparison of citywide ethnicity demographics and the ethnicities of people moving in cars, bikes, buses, and walking on Auburn Way South near the camera location revealed slightly higher percentages of white, American Indian, and other ethnicities traveling on the corridor.

Specifically, according to the city, data showed 5% of the people travelling on Auburn Way South near the camera location are American Indian or Alaskan Native as compared to the ethnicity representing roughly only 2% of the city’s population.

The data was collected using Placer AI data service provided to the city, and general city-wide demographics taken from 2022 U.S. Census Data

The draft supplement was presented and discussed with the council at the July 13 Council Study Session, and provided to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC) and the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC), who both provided comments and “positive feedback,” according to the city. In addition, the city provided the draft supplement to the tribe.