Staff writer
Drivers could see short-term changes as soon as this week near the intersection of Route 136 and Brownlee Road, Somerset Township, where five people died in a crash last week.
The state Department of Transportation district executive was at the scene of the accident Monday afternoon, talking with residents and other district officials about what safety improvements can be made.
About 5,500 vehicles travel Brownlee Road daily, while 3,500 use Route 136 in the area. Joseph Szczur, district executive for PennDOT District 12, which includes Washington County, said 10 percent of the vehicles traveling Route 136 are trucks.
"By the end of the week we should have an idea what we will do in the short term and look at some long-term solutions," Szczur said. "In the short term, we are looking at sign enhancement and perhaps rumble strips. We are just trying to get drivers' attention as they approach the intersection."
Talking with residents is helpful because it gives PennDOT a better sense of the close calls at the intersection.
"Who knows better than them?" Szczur said.
Polly Augenstein was happy that PennDOT officials were willing to listen. A van carrying the staff and residents of a home for the mentally ill in Bentleyville was knocked into the building that Augenstein's family owns at the intersection. Two staff members and three residents were killed in Thursday's accident.
"I'd like the experts to decide," she said. "A four-way stop sign may be more dangerous. And with a light, you'll have people racing to beat it. If they restructure the intersection, they may take our building."
Whatever is decided, Augenstein would like it to be sooner rather than later. She has seen the traffic slow after PennDOT put up message boards alerting drivers to the dangerous intersection.
Szczur will meet with state Sen. J. Barry Stout, D-Bentleyville, and state Rep. Timothy Solobay, D-Canonsburg, to discuss solutions. Szczur said no formal plans were in place to improve the intersection.
"Sign improvements were done, and we did see a drop in accident statistics," Szczur said.
Stout said Friday that he will do what he can to get the project on the fast track. State transportation secretary Allen D. Biehler is expected to visit the site later this week when he is in Washington County.
The district executive said it is an old-fashioned intersection.
"It is a nice rural road through the country. When it gets resurfaced, the speeds go up," Szczur said.