Speeding biggest problem on Rt. 19 corridor

Jun. 30—SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP — Tuney Moore is haunted by the sounds of motor vehicle crashes that happen in front of her home on Perry Highway in Springfield Township.

"I've had cars in my yard," Moore said, recalling a 2017 crash that seriously injured three people.

Moore was among several residents who spoke Wednesday night at a meeting to learn more about the next steps of a traffic study for U.S. Route 19, which is also known as Perry Highway in the township.

"Your most vexing problem is people drive too fast," said Sidney Kaikai, senior transportation planner with TranSystems, a transportation consultant.

TranSystems has been working on the study since the fall, gathering data and talking to motorists about their concerns regarding travel along the Route 19 corridor in an effort to improve safety measures.

TranSystems came to that conclusion with guidance from members of the traffic study steering committee — Greg Maser, PennDOT project manager; Joe Mattace, township supervisor; Lucinda Lipko, township administrator; Jim Knight, the township's director of public works and roadmaster; Pete Dickson, a member of the township's volunteer fire department and planning commission; and Matt Stewart, a senior planner with Mercer County Regional Planning Commission and representative of the Shenango Valley Area Transportation Study Metropolitan Planning Organization.

The committee has held six meetings.

The study is a joint project of the township, county planning commission, metropolitan planning organization and PennDOT, and some of the meetings have included local business owners and emergency service workers.

The focus is on a 1.8-mile stretch of Route 19 between Pennsy Road just north of the Lawrence-Mercer county line to Hunters Run near Rachel's Roadhouse.

The study area includes parts of Leesburg Station Road and state Route 208, also known as Leesburg-Grove City Road.

Community members agreed that speeding vehicles is a significant problem, along with sight distances, and the addition of new signage, rumble strips, street lights and crosswalks.

"You have to have the people behind you," Kaikai said of the input the committee has collected.

During emergencies on interstates 79 and 80, responders often detour traffic onto Route 19, which compounds problems along the corridor, said Brian Krul, project engineer with TranSystems.

The area has no measures in place to slow traffic, he said, so more signage and pavement markings could be helpful.

Those actions could include a sign on the stop sign at Route 208 eastbound that warns drivers that cross traffic on Route 19 does not stop, and installing a sign that displays drivers' speed.

After reviewing accident data over the past five years, TranSystems determined that traffic signals and turning lanes are not warranted, Krul said.

Kaikai said a sidewalk might be a good idea even though there are not many pedestrians in that area because their presence tends to slow down traffic.

Lowering the speed limit — which ranges from 35 to 55 miles per hour in the study area — is another possibility, but it would require a separate speed study, Krul said.

Residents wondered why Route 208 is a split intersection — 208 east and 208 west do not line up in a typical "plus sign" layout.

That design makes it difficult to see oncoming traffic around trees and signs, they said.

"I've been thinking about that for years," said Tom Wimer, who lives in the study area.

If traffic increases or new developments come to the township, those intersections could be reconfigured to meet up across Route 19, or consultants can look at roundabout designs, Krul said, adding that the present traffic count does not warrant changing the arrangement.

That part of the project would be costly and involve getting right-of-way permissions from nearby property owners, said Joseph Rusiewicz, a project engineer with TranSystems.

But accident data does not track near-accidents, which happen a lot in the area of routes 208 and 19, residents said.

Rusiewicz said collecting data on near-accident would be impossible because there is no accepted engineering process.

Joyce Ferguson, who lives on Perry Highway, has two "hidden driveway" signs but said traffic in front of her home is still dangerous, especially in the passing zone.

"I'm afraid. It's crazy," she said.

Krul said the state might need to eliminate the passing zones.

The township does not have its own police force — state police patrol the area — which means traffic-calming measures recommended by TranSystems are on the table because there will never be sufficient police enforcement, Stewart said.

Moore said she's sometimes afraid to be in her own home because of the number of accidents, some of which have been fatal.

Residents asked how the enforced speed limit is determined. Federal law says that the speed limit must be set within 5 miles of the average speed of 85 percent of drivers in that area, PennDOT's Maser said.

TranSystems is working on a report that will list the recommendations. When it is finished, Krul said it will be available on the township's website.

Community members can share more comments with TranSystems by contacting Brian Krul at 412-551-0968 or bakrul@transystems.com