Measures approved toward Peters Township traffic improvements
For motorists who have concerns about Peters Township’s infrastructure keeping up with traffic volume, proposed improvements are on the horizon.
Township council on May 14 unanimously approved two measures to address the situation, amending an ordinance to increase the traffic impact fee assessed for new developments and updating Peters’ transportation capital improvement program to incorporate four key projects.
The impact fee – implemented in 2008 “to ensure that the transportation system is available and adequate to support existing volumes of traffic and traffic projected to be generated by new growth and development,” according to the ordinance – rises to $1,500 per new peak hour trip generated by a development.
The previous amounts of $1,386 or $1,401, depending on where the development was located, had been in place since 2012.
Fees that are collected go into a fund to be used for projects in the transportation capital improvement program, which calls for a series of enhancements with proposed “build years” for projects stretching out for the next decade.
Peters Township School District is in the process of building a new high school on the former Rolling Hills Country Club property.
With council’s action, added to the list are:
• The access drive through the former Rolling Hills Country Club property, dividing the halves owned by the municipality and Peters Township School District.
Construction is anticipated for 2019, the year before the district plans to open a new high school at the site. The cost, to be split between the two entities, is $3.1 million, with the township’s share to be covered fully by impact fees.
• Improvements to the intersection of Waterdam and Galley roads, where Primose School of Peters Township is under construction. The state Department of Transportation has determined that turning lanes are required to complement a new traffic signal, and the project is to take place in 2020.
• Construction of a left-turn lane from Valley Brook Road onto Friar Lane, in part to accommodate traffic for a complex proposed by The Waters Senior Living. The project is targeted for 2028.
• Roundabout at Valley Brook and Bebout roads.
“Although there was always an improvement that was to be placed in here, PennDOT was originally going to pay the entire cost of that,” township manager Paul Lauer told council. “They’re now asking for participation from the township. So if this project is going to move forward, it needs to be incorporated into the plan.”
According to a report prepared by Michael Mudry of Traffic Planning and Design Inc., PennDOT has advanced this project to the final design phase, and the department has requested that funding for final design and construction be placed in regional planning agency Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission’s upcoming transportation improvement program.
Federal and state sources will pay for most of the $2 million project. The township’s contribution is $480,000.
Although some council members have registered objections to construction of a roundabout instead of installing traffic signals, Lauer said PennDOT officials have made up their minds.
“The decision already has been made on that, and if we are participating or we aren’t participating, it will be a roundabout,” he said. “If we are not participating, there will be no improvement on that intersection.”
