HERMITAGE State to help fund traffic study

Changes in speed limit or even the addition of a traffic light have been suggested.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- The state will help finance a traffic study aimed at making the 1.5-mile industrial corridor along Broadway Avenue safer for motorists.
Hermitage City Manager Gary Hinkson told city commissioners Wednesday that the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has approved a $40,000 grant to help finance a traffic study of the two-lane road that serves the bulk of the city's industrial base.
Broadway is also a main link between the Interstate 80-state Route 60 interchange and the municipalities of Wheatland, Farrell and Sharon, which means it also carries a lot of passenger vehicle traffic.
Hinkson said industrial companies along the corridor approached the city about six months ago, asking if something could be done to make the road safer, particularly because of the large number of tractor-trailers trying to get on and off the roadway.
Some ideas: There were suggestions that the speed limit (40 mph) might be too fast or that the roadway should be widened to include turning lanes. Combined driveways to reduce the number of intersections along the roadway and even the installation of a traffic signal, perhaps at Freedland Road, were other suggestions, Hinkson said.
The city decided that a traffic study should be done before any changes are made and applied to PennDOT for financial help. Broadway Road is a state highway and is an extension of Route 60.
Hinkson said the city will have to put up $10,000 to add to the PennDOT grant and that most of that will be covered by in-kind services provided through the city's planning department.
The city will have to hire a consultant to do the study, he said.