The State College Borough Council voted last night to proceed with speed mitigation in the next step of the traffic calming process involving the East Highlands area.

Step one was a traffic calming study done by Trans Associates, a company hired by the borough, that targeted both speed and volume.

But Trans Associates' recommendations based on the results suggested that the borough only proceed with speed mitigation.

Trans Associates will now report back to the council on methods of moderating the speed at an undetermined time.

Council member Craig Humphrey said he was concerned that the process would only be focusing on speed.

"I don't see why one criteria should stop looking [at volume]," he said.

The volume had to meet three criteria to make the cut into step two .

These criteria included the average daily traffic numbers, if "cut-through" traffic exceeded 40 percent of the average traffic numbers and if traffic exceeded 100 vehicles per hour in one direction.

"Cut-throughs" are trips taken through the neighborhood that did not originate within the neighborhood.

Humphrey said the numbers met two of the three criteria on four streets involved in the study.

They were Prospect Avenue, Foster Avenue, East Hamilton Avenue and High Street.

"If you get hit by a car, you don't care if it's a 'cut-through' car or not," he said.

Council member Elizabeth Goreham said because of the nature of the subject, the traffic calming process stirred up a few feelings.

"Nothing is more emotional in this town than parking, traffic and student housing," she said.

"People just go into immediate rage," she added.

Council member Janet Knauer said she agreed with Goreham's sentiments.

"Those are things that no one wants to compromise about," she said.

Mark Whitfield, State College's public works director, said the speed mitigation would encompass the entire East Highlands area even though Trans Associates' study was only done within a certain section of the local neighborhood.

Goreham said earlier that the problem was brought to the borough's attention by a letter written by some residents of Prospect Avenue.

She said they were concerned about the increase in traffic on Prospect because of the insertion of a "trumpet" in the intersection of East Foster Avenue and University Drive a few years ago.

The triangle-shaped device forces traffic to turn right onto University Drive from East Foster and right onto East Foster from University Drive.

The result effectively blocked access to the Penn State campus, which diverted traffic onto nearby streets, such as Prospect Avenue, thus leading to "cut-throughs," Goreham said.

Humphrey said speed mitigation would continue to be the focus, even though volume continues to be a point of contention. "I was hoping they'd give us some ideas," he said.