Forks Township supervisors address traffic concerns
The Forks Township Board of Supervisors is still considering how to address residents’ recent concerns about traffic at three intersections they say are heavily traveled, often by speeding cars.
Earlier this summer, residents of The Green at Lafayette Park told supervisors they believe volume in the area has increased since a traffic study was done in 2009 by Keystone Consulting Engineers. Part of the increase in traffic has been due to the addition of a school bus stop.
The residents have been asking for stop signs at the intersections of Winchester Drive and Lower Way, Winchester and Knollwood Drive, and Meco Road and Jamie Court.
Although no one from the public attended this week’s supervisors meeting, township engineer Scott Muller brought the matter before the board to report that a traffic study would cost an estimated $2,500, which would include putting down counters and mapping the intersections. Muller said he has a form used in other municipalities on which engineers input traffic study information for analysis to help determine what kind of traffic control measures are necessary.
Muller said he doesn’t believe the traffic count merits stop signs. He previously said the 2009 study, done at Meco Road and Jamie Court, indicated there was not enough traffic to warrant the signs. Approval for the stop signs would have to come through the state Department of Transportation, which won’t approve signage unless a new traffic study is done.
There already are several stop signs in the neighborhood, Muller said, and supervisors agreed that more are not necessary.
“Then we’d just run into problems with people running stop signs,” said Supervisor Erick Chuss.
Supervisors Chairman John O’Neil said he’d like to see a couple of radar speed signs in the township to deter speeders, and Supervisor Bob Egolf said he thinks it would make more sense to spend $2,500 on radar speed signs than on another traffic study.
Police Chief Greg Dorney said he’d get concrete pricing on the signs and have it available for the next meeting.
