May 15, 2013 2 min read

McMURRAY – Peters Township Council talked Monday about temporary traffic controls at several locations when Valley Brook Road and the ramps leading to and from Washington Road close May 22, but approved only one additional stop sign.

Some 11,000 motorists who use the road in that area will have to find another route and traffic problems are anticipated. An official detour will be posted using Mayview, Boyce and McMurray roads, all state-owned roads. However, Peters Township officials are preparing for an onslaught of vehicles using unofficial detours through residential streets.

Council voted 6-1 to install one additional stop sign at southbound Rock Run Road and Proffer Road. The sign will supplement the stop sign already on Proffer. Council President Frank Arcuri voted against the stop sign. The stop sign at Rock Run and Proffer Road was not the only interim measure proposed by township administration to help control traffic.

Township Manager Michael Silvestri also proposed an additional stop sign along northbound Gallery Drive at the entrance to Peters Town Center, which would have supplemented the two existing stop signs and one eastbound facing South Hills Bible Chapel. A stop sign on Stonebrook Drive facing Hoover Lane to supplement two existing signs was also proposed. However, motions to approve those additional signs failed.

Prior to the vote, Silvestri said the administration looked at about 10 different locations where temporary traffic controls may be needed during the Valley Brook closure. “These were the ones needed initially,” he said.

Councilman David Ball suggested waiting until the closure occurs to see where the stop signs will be needed. Councilman James Berquist suggested installing all of the signs and then perhaps removing them if they are not needed, adding that the additional stop signs put in place during the Bebout Road closure were “very effective.”

In other business, council voted unanimously to authorize the cleanup of a property at 451 Bower Hill Road, referred to as the Marcella Yanniello property. Councilwoman Monica Merrell said the site may be one of the only buildings in Peters that is an “historical Peters Township building.”