• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

PennDOT Eyes Quick Remedies for Bypass Curve: Lights, Radar, Message Board Proposed for Expressway

Posted on: Thursday, 2 February 2006, 12:00 CST

By Pete Bosak, The Centre Daily Times, State College, Pa.

Feb. 2--STATE COLLEGE -- The state Department of Transportation wants to install flashing lights, radar speed detectors and an electronic message board on the Mount Nittany Expressway in the hopes of eliminating crashes on a problematic curve.

PennDOT engineer Dennis Prestash unveiled the improvement plans Wednesday at a Centre County Metropolitan Planning Organization committee meeting. The Technical Committee unanimously voted to recommend the improvements to the MPO next month.

"I thought it provided a lot of justification for making the improvements," said Tom Zilla, MPO transportation planner.

If approved by the MPO's voting committee, College Township Council members and the Federal Highway Administration, the approximately $250,000 project could be completed by August, Prestash said.

College Township Council, which asked PennDOT to take action after a fatal crash on the expressway Jan. 4, is scheduled to hear Prestash's presentation tonight.

The problem area is the stretch of U.S. Route 322 at the East Branch Road overpass in College Township, where the westbound lanes pitch down and bend sharply to the right, with little compensating banking.

PennDOT wants to install flashing yellow lights above the westbound lanes near to the curve with a large sign warning motorists of the curve. Also on that pole would be two radar systems telling motorists, by way of an electronic message board along the roadway, what their speeds are and whether they are going too fast.

These "intelligent transportation systems" react to traffic and its speed and have been proven effective in reducing drivers' speeds by as much as 8 mph, Prestash said.

"Statistical data points to drivers speeding as the biggest cause for concern," he said.

Since 2001, Prestash said, there have been 19 reportable accidents -- accidents in which vehicles had to be towed away -- at the curve. The last one killed Benjamin Potter, 45, of Nescopeck, who was driving a tractor-trailer that overturned after crashing into the guardrails.

The number of crashes at the curve, and the possibility of one of them leading to a hazardous-materials spill near township neighborhoods, prompted College Township Council to ask PennDOT to intervene.

Statistics Prestash presented Wednesday indicate 58 percent of all serious accidents at that curve since 2001 happened during the day.

In 47 percent of crashes, the roadway was dry and motorists were faulted by police for traveling too fast.

"I think what they are proposing appears to be reasonable," said MPO Technical Committee Chairman Kent Baker, who also serves as College Township's engineer. "Speeds seem to be the factor there."

The project's estimated $250,000 cost would be covered by PennDOT with money left over from another recent Route 322 improvement project.

The improvements also would include a video surveillance system that would allow PennDOT to monitor that stretch of roadway, determine what days and times are the most problematic in terms of speeding and pass that information to State College police, who patrol the expressway.

State College Police Chief Tom King said he is encouraged by PennDOT's desire to take action.

"I can say definitively there needs to be some changes made to reduce the volume and severity of crashes on that particular road," King said.

Pete Bosak can be reached at 235-3928.

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The Centre Daily Times, State College, Pa.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: Centre Daily Times (State College, Pa.)

More News in this Category