The hill-crest intersection of Rupert and Pruss Hill road in Lower Pottsgrove Township
SANATOGA PA – For a second time in three years, the Lower Pottsgrove Police Department has studied, and rejected, a request to have a three-way stop installed at the “T”-intersection of Rupert and Pruss Hill roads on the township’s northeast side. It has, however, made a suggestion to improve sight lines there, and it also asked the Pottsgrove School District to relocate a bus pick-up point near the corner for safety reasons.
More than 1,500 vehicles pass through or turn at the intersection daily, at an average rate of about 65 vehicles an hour, Chief Michael Foltz told the Board of Commissioners in a report issued during its meeting last Monday (Oct. 1, 2012). Their average speed, it said: 36 miles an hour.
State guidelines, however, forbid the use of stop signs for speed control, and the department has recorded only one accident at the intersection since 2009. Considering both, Foltz concluded, asking the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to authorize a three-way stop there is unwarranted.
That was the same conclusion reached three years earlier when Foltz’s predecessor, former Chief Michael Shade, was asked to look at the same intersection. In both cases, the requests were prompted by one or more complaints from area residents.
Property owners in the vicinity have long worried over the increasing amount of traffic at the intersection, as motorists from as far away as Boyertown travel east over Pruss Hill and then turn south on Rupert to more quickly reach U.S. Route 422 at its Sanatoga interchange. Traffic levels could rise even higher if proposed housing communities already approved farther west on Pruss Hill are developed in coming years.
Currently, a single stop sign forces northbound traffic on Rupert to stop at its hill-crest intersection with Pruss Hill. Traffic on Pruss Hill is not required to stop, and home owners complain that eastbound vehicles occasionally turn south onto Rupert without slowing, and create a hazard. The report did not address that concern.
The department did determine, however, that the ability of motorists on Rupert to see traffic coming west on Pruss Hill is limited.
From a vehicle on Rupert at the hill crest, drivers can see traffic coming toward them from the east from 281 feet away, according to the report; the state-required distance is 270 or more feet. The ability to see traffic coming from the west, however, is reduced to only 189 feet; “too short,” it said.
The sight line could be sufficiently improved by removing shrubbery at the corner and trimming a nearby tree, the report indicated. The owner of the property where the shrub and tree are located reportedly is willing to work with township Public Works employees to solve that problem.
In addition, Foltz said, the school district has already relocated a bus stop the department considered too close to the intersection to be safe.
Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ Oct. 1 meeting):
Joe,
Need some clarification. So only the police and initiate this, not the township commissioners who pay them? Do we need state approval or could we the taxpayers simply pay for the signs ourselves ?
Mike, my understanding is the police chief receives a complaint, determines its merit, possibly consults with the township manager and commissioners, assigns an officer to complete the study, determines the merit of the officer’s recommendations, and reports to the board.
If these were township-owned roads, commissioners themselves could potentially authorize the placement of stop signs. They’re not, however; both Rupert and Pruss Hill are state-owned, and PennDOT is the approving authority on state highways. PennDOT has a series of strict guidelines that in part determine stop sign placement. One of them: signs can’t be used as speed-control devices. Its reasoning: speed control is an enforcement (ie. police) task.
PennDOT concerns itself with traffic flow and safety. The study shows there have been few safety issues (in fact, only one) at the intersection during the past three years. Failing a safety need, the agency suggests, stop signs impede traffic flow. Unless the request for signs meets state guidelines it is unlikely to be considered and, consequently, unlikely to be submitted to PennDOT. Chief’s just reporting the obvious, and saving time and paperwork. Cost of the signs, and who pays for them, is not the issue.
Rupert is becoming a commuting route from the Boyertown / Hannover / Gilbeertsville area to 422.
This intersection needs better controls as the potential for serious injury and or death exists. Rupert is also being traversed daily by many cars at higher than posted speeds. Would be great to capture a few during the rush hours just to see where they are from and why they think it’s ok to drive 50 in 30 mph zone.
The base of the hill over the creek narrowed by the bridge is also an increasing hazard. Having lived in Woodgate for 35 years I am seeing more and more of these high speed drivers straddle the middle of the bridge as they are driving too fast to align properly on approach from the north. One of these days a head-on will occur.
A solution would be to require southbound traffic to stop at the bridge. Coming north on Rupert down the hill would be too hazardous were there a stop at the bridge in that direction. Winters snow and ice make it especially so.
Our new Chief of Police needs to consider these factors if he’s the recommender for traffic signs to PENNDOT.
Ed, please read my reply to Mike Neiffer’s comment.
I think everyone in township administration recognizes this is a hot-button issue on the east side. As a resident of Sanatoga Road, and a regular user of Pruss Hill Road, I too have seen the violations you’ve noted. Unfortunately, it make take a major accident, to which you allude, to get something more done at the intersection than the single stop sign now there for Rupert.
Thanks for the clarification, Joe. We have a similar issue at Sunnybrook and Kepler. Very dangerous.