After weekend crash injures two, township to seek PennDOT speed limit changes — again
By Mike McGann, Editor, UnionvilleTimes.com
The entryway to Chadds Ford Knoll was damaged Saturday after a crash that left two injured. Local residents are asking for help from the township slow speeds on US 1.—Mike McGann photo
PENNSBURY — Residents of the Chadds Ford Knoll neighborhood are asking township officials to try once again to get state transportation officials to address what they say is a dangerous mix of speed and road design on US-1 — in wake of Saturday night’s accident there that left two seriously injured.
Janice Pietrowicz appeared before the board of township supervisors Wednesday night to push the board to again petition the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) to consider reducing the speed limit on the road way near Chadds Ford Knoll from 55 MPH to 45 MPH and look into other options to create traffic calming in the area.
“Everyone I speak to about this, I hear the same thing,” Pietrowicz said. “Speed is a problem on the road.”
Pietrowicz said she contacted residents in all 154 homes in Chadds Ford Knoll asking for suggestions, but as the issue has come up before, many residents feel they haven’t gotten anywhere. That’s a sentiment shared by the supervisors — board members said Wednesday night, as the state controls the roadway.
“Unfortunately, 90% of the ideas (to improve safety) depend on PennDOT,” Supervisor Scotty Scottoline said. “We’ve asked a lot of the same questions, and we get the same answer.”
Twisted debris remains from Saturday night's crash near the entrance of Chadds Ford Knoll.
Within the last year, PennDOT did a traffic study on the area and determined that the the current speed limits were safe.
Scottoline suggested that residents should contact State Rep. Chris Ross and state Senator Dominic Pileggi — and suggested that a letter would be more effective than emails. All three supervisors said they would support renewing efforts to make the road safer and that the township would again write a letter to PennDOT asking for further study of the roadway.
“I think the township should be able to stand behind your effort,” Supervisors chair Wendell Fenton said.
But, with the track record of the state in terms of making changes to the highway to make it safer, supervisors cautioned that renewed efforts might not go anywhere.
“We tried it many times before,” Scottoline said. “This board and the boards that came before it, and we’ve run into a brick wall every time.”
That having been said, he allowed that residents might have more impact right now than township officials.
“Lean on your representatives,” Scotoline said. “It’s an election year.”
Township manager Kathleen Howley said she thought PennDOT might agree — if there are enough resident complaints — to hold a public meeting on the roadway to take input from residents.
State police still have not released information on the crash, which happened a little after 10 p.m. Saturday night and left two people seriously injured.
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