Trustees approve 4-way stop

Residents are concerned about children on the road.
AUSTINTOWN -- Residents who are concerned about speeding on Penny Lane will get some help in the form of a four-way stop.
Trustees voted Monday to place a four-way stop at the intersection of Penny Lane and Birch Trace Drive and Oak Trace Street. There are stop signs now at Birch Trace and Oak Trace. They are the same roadway, but it changes names at Penny Lane.
Penny Lane resident Kim Veltri asked trustees for the stop signs in April. She said a township study last summer indicated between 800 and 900 cars a day use Penny Lane, and 90 percent of them go 40 mph or faster. The speed limit is 25 mph. She said at the April meeting that despite the data, the township said the intersection didn't warrant a four-way stop because there had been no crashes there.
Veltri said she and other residents are concerned that children who live on the road are in danger from speeders.
Traffic count
Based on a recent traffic count, 750 cars use the road daily with 90 percent doing a speed of almost 35 miles an hour, township administrator Michael Dockry said Monday.
Dockry called the traffic count "quite high."
Trustees had said before that they weren't sure if they should put a four-way stop at the intersection because state guidelines are against using stop signs to control speeding.
Dockry said, however, that as long as the stop signs don't create a liability for the township, there won't be a problem.
He said the signs will probably be installed sometime this week if the township has some.