Residents of the East Highlands area attended a Transportation Commission meeting last night to form a Traffic Calming Committee (TCC) to work with the State College borough during the next phase of its traffic calming project.

"Anyone from the larger project area, I believe, is eligible to be on that committee," Ron Seybert, a Trans Associates representative, said.

Trans Associates, a company hired by the borough, did a traffic study targeting speed and volume resulting in a plan for speed mitigation in the East Highlands area.

The project area is outlined by East Beaver Avenue, University Drive, Pugh Street, and Easterly Parkway.

However, the study area is limited to University Drive, South Garner Street, and East Foster and East Hamilton avenues.

Seybert said the TCC, once formed, would be responsible for working with the Transportation Commission during the next steps in the traffic calming process.

"What I wanted to point out [was that] the neighborhood is very concerned about getting calming for the project area, not just the study area," Bob Seibel, a Highlands Neighborhoods representative, said.

Tom Gesell, an East Hamilton Avenue resident, said he agreed that speed mitigation should cover the entire area.

"It should be a ... view of the entire area," he said.

"If [you] focus on one area, the problem cascades down to other areas," he added.

Kate Delano-Poorman, another Highlands Neighborhoods representative, said there was a problem with Trans Associates because the volume study was not feasible.

She said that in order to reach the necessary number of cut-throughs to include it as an option in the project, at least 100 cars per hour per street would have to travel through the study area, a number she said she estimates as too high.

A cut-through is a trip through the area that doesn't originate within the neighborhood.

"It's not realistic," she said. "We feel volume is as much a problem [as speed]."

Seybert presented a number of permanent possible solutions to the speed problem, including speed humps, raised pavement and pavement markings.

"Anything we show here would all be legitimate options," he said.

Penn State engineering professor and transportation commission member Paul Jovanis said it was important at this stage in the process to focus on speed mitigation.

"I want to emphasize the notion that the only things we're looking at ... have to do with speed," he said. "The data showed speed was a problem."

Future members of the TCC will be chosen through an application process, with an application deadline of next Wednesday.