Upper St. Clair commissioners address Country Club Drive traffic-calming plan
A proposed traffic-calming plan for Country Club Drive had residents on both sides of the issue voicing their opinions during the Upper St. Clair Commissioners’ Aug. 29 informational and general affairs meeting.
The draft plan proposed by the township includes one speed hump located approximately 220 feet west of Fairway Circle and another about 800 feet west of the same street, along with signage warning of the humps. A 25-mph speed limit sign would be placed near the entrance of Country Club Drive from Old Washington Road.
Carol Coliane has lived on Country Club Drive for 20 years and said she cannot recall anyone being injured on the street because of speeding vehicles. She expressed concerns about increased noise from cars going over the speed humps and questioned whether they would damage low-profile vehicles and snow-removal equipment.
“I don’t see Country Club as a unique situation,” said her husband, Norm Coliane, commenting that a traffic study could be done on almost every street in the township and come up with similar results.
Mary Ann Wellener was one of the Country Club Drive residents who said she thinks there is a speeding problem, especially at the bottom of the hill, nothing that the street is busy and is used as a cut-through to McMurray Road.
Karen Connor told commissioners that she is the resident who started the campaign for a traffic calming program for Country Club because she is worried about children, pedestrians and bicyclists being hit by speeding vehicles. She said she is open to traffic calming measures other than speed humps, if they are available.
Adam Benigni, township director of planning and zoning, explained the township’s traffic calming policy. After receiving a request from a homeowner about a speeding problem, a petition with at least 20 signatures must be submitted to the township.
The township then has a traffic engineer conduct a study to determine if traffic calming is warranted. If so, a traffic-calming plan is developed, and the plan is presented at a public meeting to solicit input from residents.
After residents’ comments are taken into consideration, a survey is sent to residents. If 50 percent respond favorably, the plan moves to the board of commissioners for approval.
Benigni said 85 of the 148 surveys sent to Country Club Drive residents were returned, with 59 percent of them responding in favor of the traffic-calming plan.
Township manager Matt Serakowski addressed many of the issues raised by residents. He said Upper St. Clair has had a traffic-calming policy for nine years, and several streets in the township have speed humps, including Truxton, Clairmont and Skyridge drives. All the speed humps in the municipality are asphalt, and when properly installed, Serakowski said they pose no problem for low-profile vehicles or snowplows.
Serakowski told the board that the township should assess how successful speed humps have been in reducing speeding in the areas where they have been installed. He said the township should also look at the speed-calming policy with the traffic engineers to determine if changes need to be made.
Commissioners are expected to vote on the Country Club Drive traffic-calming plan at their Sept. 6 meeting. Also on the Sept. 6 agenda is discussion on the perimeter trail installation at Boyce Mayview Park.
During their Aug. 1 regular meeting, commissioners split on a vote as to whether to approve a $1.4 million contract for the installation, with Mark Christie, board president, joining vice president Rex Waller and Nicholas Seitanakis in voting for the project, and Robert Orchowski, Ronald Pardini and Daniel Paoly voting against. Commissioner Russell Del Re was absent.
The base bid for the southern extension of the perimeter trail, which runs from Ardolino’s restaurant to the Upper St. Clair Community Gardens, is $606,050. A bid for the project’s Alternate 1 component, the reforestation of the southern perimeter trail area, is $26,000, and Alternate 3, sign installation, is $3,000.
The base bid for installing the perimeter trail along the southern portion of Morton Road, which runs from the Community Gardens to Rostron Drive and Morton Road, is $794,250. Also taken into consideration is a 2 percent reduction of $28,586 for total award to a single bidder.
The township received a $250,000 state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources grant for the southern extension and a $200,000 Department of Community and Economic Development Greenways, Trails and Recreation grant for the Morton Trail, along with $30,000 in Allegheny Regional Asset District capital funds. The balance of the project, $920,714, would be funded by township contributions.