Leadership at the City of Montesano is continuing discussions about a possible rest stop for travelers heading toward the beach.

During the city council meeting on Dec. 13, the council reviewed illustrations of the changes that would come to the city’s footprint if the rest stop becomes a reality. Those changes include a traffic circle (also known as a roundabout) south of downtown near the westbound Highway 12 offramp and Monte Square.

“It’s a pretty bad intersection — there are seven or eight (locations) connecting to that place,” Mayor Vini Samuel explained. “I was standing out there this summer checking out when we have a larger number of people coming in, and I don’t think anybody’s paying attention… It’s something we should probably address anyway at some level.”

Samuel said she hopes much of the cost will be shifted away from the city.

“We’re asking for funds to fund that vast majority of this,” Samuel said.

The city could ask that the state Department of Transportation fund the roundabout.

The state also would be asked to pay for an upgrade and repurposing of the current Park and Ride facility through the biennium capital budget. The rest stop will be built on the current site of the Park and Ride.

A public safety outbuilding that could be constructed at the rest stop hopefully would be built using federal funding, Samuel said.

The route to the rest stop would direct traffic off the high and right onto Main Street heading north and then turning right before East Wynoochee Avenue. The route then would send traffic north along South Sylvia Street, then west on Wynoochee Avenue. Traffic then could take Main Street back to the highway onramps.

The rest stop is part of an overall vision of the city’s future as described by the mayor during an August city council meeting. During that meeting, Samuel had noted it would be the only rest stop for westbound traffic between the coast and Seattle.

The mayor also had noted some 6 million people traveling to the coast.

Montesano Police Chief Brett Vance on Dec. 13 said his department would aim to ensure that the location doesn’t bring an increase in crime to the city.

“One of the things you see when you’re talking about a criminal element in rest areas are rest areas that are off the beaten path, or on I-5 that are in the middle of 20-mile stretches or something with not a lot of patrol,” Vance said. “This is going to be almost in the heart of the city… With our patrol guys patrolling 24 hours through the area, we could limit that issue.”

The city is planning a public hearing to discuss the plans on Jan. 10. The mayor is planning to release details on the overall costs (building, maintaining, patrolling) before the council takes action.