posted by Joe Polk at 3:04 PM /
Commissioners will look into the possibility of reducing the speed limit on a portion of Washington Road, from 35 miles an hour to 25 miles an hour, after residents whose children attend Washington Elementary School and Mellon Middle School complained that traffic there travels too fast.
At issue is the area roughly from the Mission Hills neighborhood to Castle Shannon Boulevard, where the speed limit drops to 25 miles an hour as drivers enter Mt. Lebanon's main business district.
Another possibility is establishing a school zone on Washington Road at its intersection with Cochran Road. Although that area is at the high school, taking traffic speed down to 15 miles an hour during certain school times could reduce speed through the corridor, said Commissioner David Humphreys.
Municipal officials will approach the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to discuss the matter. Since Washington Road is a state road, speed limit changes need to go through PennDOT, said traffic board President Mark Spada.
Mt. Lebanon traffic engineer Mark Magalotti told commissioners that the majority of traffic between Cochran Road and Castle Shannon Boulevard travels 36 miles an hour or less southbound and 41 miles an hour or less northbound.
There is no timetable for further action.
Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/07046/762173-55.stm
Labels: municipality
9 Comments:
I think they should lower the speed limit throughout Washington Road, but also re-time the lights to make it where you could only hit 1 stoplight throughout uptown Mt. Lebanon.
I think 1 reason for speeding is people want to make it through a light before it turns red, because the way the lights are timed, you may be getting a few more red lights in the next 50 yards....
Speaking of Washington road traffic...if the parents of the high school students would pull all the way down to the end of the sidewalk in the morning instead of dropping their child off directly in front of the door, it would not only be safer, but traffic would not be backed up all the way to Main Entrance and Atlanta! Can't we break this bad habit?
Accident waiting to happen...highschool students jaywalking every morning at Main Entrance over to Cochran. ...often standing in the middle of lanes waiting for traffic to pass. One of these days... someone reading the newspaper, talking on the cell phone, or playing with their GPS system while driving is going to hit the gas without seeing the unexpected pedestrian between cars.
I see it everyday...wish the police sat on Main entrance at this time to witness danger.
As both the parent of a Washington walker and a driver, I can't tell you how relieved I am that something is finally being done. Driving down Washington Rd. in the morning and especially at dismissal is frightening. Groups of kids caught up in conversation sometimes even a little horseplay, from what is only inches away from traffic that is travelling far too fast. I can't think of anything else that remotely dangerous that any parent I know would allow their child to "play" around. Two question come to mind, why haven't we taken steps to correct this earlier? and How have we been so lucky?
Washington Road is a haven for aggressive drivers. Since the lights are so poorly timed, you could sit through an entire light while the car in front of you tries to pull in to a spot in front of Molly Brannigans.
All of Uptown Mt. Lebanon should be timed where cars freely drive through, and then every 3-5 minutes, have all the lights turn red so people can cross.
Right now, these aggressive drivers are weaving in and out of lanes just to make it through. If they see a turn signal, their 1st thought is to go to the other lane because they don't want to hit a light, which would lead them to hit more lights along the way home.
11:26 anon..you took the words right out of my mouth. I have watched kids walk three and four abreast, shoving and pushing and clowning around ...stepping out onto the road...I hold my breath!
It is a daily miracle that these kids have not been hurt. We definitely need a slower speed limit.
Just because you put up a sign that says the speed limit has been lowered by 10 mph doesn't mean drivers will actually go 10 mph slower. It was a huge waste of taxpayer monies a few years ago in South Park when they put up all of those guard rails because of ONE elderly driver tragically having a heart attack and landing on the gas instead of the brake. The speed limit in South Park is and always has been 25 mph. Yet between driveways and dilapidated sections of curb I do agree that it is a minor miracle that nobody has jumped a curb and hit a pedestrian yet. Rather than lowering a speed limit and giving MTLPD more reasons to have four patrol cars stop a speeder it seems that building an appropriate curb would be a better and more effective solution.
some of the congestion on the street helps to keep it from being a super highway. do we want a mcknightmare road in mt lebanon?
is the problem here the drivers or the students? or both?
the traffic engineer documented the majority of cars going around the speed limit. this leaves just less than a majority going over the limit. we need to patrol more. while doing so the mlpd should monitor the students as well. if cars are in the street where they belong and kids are in the street where they do not belong - where is the problem? are we seeing a theme here in mt lebanon with kids not respecting rules? do we need more rules or more parenting?
It's hard not to go the speed limit when you have 10 stop lights in 100 yards.
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