City revises turning-lane plan

Merchants will get parking spaces back at West State Street and Water Avenue.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- City officials have come up with yet another plan to keep a turning lane for westbound traffic on West State Street at the Water Avenue intersection.
The city used $121,000 in state grant money to recently build the turning lane, but the change in traffic patterns also resulted in the loss of nine on-street parking spots around the intersection, something that angered merchants in the area.
They came to council meetings en masse to demand the city return the street to the way it was and reopen those parking spaces.
Compromise: In September, city council agreed to do that, but at a city council workshop Thursday, Mayor Robert T. Price came up with a compromise proposal.
The city will eliminate the turning lane and restore the curbside parking. The single lane for westbound traffic will now get a left-turn arrow added to help keep traffic moving, he said.
It's not as good as a separate turning lane but it should help ease congestion somewhat, he said.
Price previously had said that adding the turning lane was the answer to eliminating traffic congestion caused when cars got backed up behind a motorist waiting to make a left turn at that intersection.
Joseph Kurtanich, the engineer hired by the city to help design the project, said the traffic flow won't be aided under the new plan if the first car in line is waiting to go straight.
The green arrow will come on for left turns before the green light for traffic traveling west or turning right on Water Avenue, he said.
Timeline: Council members asked when the changes will be made and the parking spots restored.
Price said Pennsylvania Department of Transportation officials told him the city can't restore the parking spaces until it has the new light in place, but Glenn Siminick, owner of Golden Memories, a jewelry store at 84 W. State St., said PennDOT officials told him the city could make the changes immediately.
State Street is a state roadway and any changes must be approved by PennDOT.
Price said he would check with the state again today to determine when the parking spaces can be restored.
gwin@vindy.com