Lobbying for less dangerous route
CECIL – As the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s looming Southern Beltway project has traffic connecting between Routes 22 and 50, Cecil Township Supervisor Andy Schrader is worried an overflow of traffic will make a narrow section of Reissing Road even more dangerous.
A trestle carrying train cars over the road has a clearance of only 11 feet, and the underpass is narrow with limited visibility, Schrader said.
“It’s already been hit three times by trucks, and hit so hard it’s caused problems with the rails above. With oil and natural gas being carried in some of these train cars, we’re looking at a potential catastrophe if something isn’t done,” he said. Cecil Township Police Chief Shawn Bukovinsky confirmed the bridge was twice struck in 2015 and once in 2012.
Schrader said he’s been lobbying the Turnpike Commission for two years to try to get the agency to consider diverting traffic onto Creedmore Road, which runs parallel underneath the trestle and has no visibility issues and three times the height clearance. But the diversion would take considerable grading work and require a takeover of private property on either side. Turnpike officials said their double diamond interchange design acknowledges the expected overflow of traffic, and that proper signs would be posted along nearby roads.
“We’re building an entirely new access route on and through Cecil-Sturgeon Road,” engineer Jeff Davis said.
“We’ll also be making improvements to Reissing Road,” Turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo said.
But neither solution directly addresses the visibility issue nor the potential for the trestle to collapse if hit with enough force, Schrader said. Reissing Road is under management of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, but the agency does not own the trestle, and any potential problems should be addressed by the Turnpike, according to spokeswoman Valerie Petersen. Wheeling and Lake Erie Rail Co., which owns the trestle and the rail network, did not return calls seeking comment.
“I also see potential problems with this intersection with Route 50. But we need to get the attention of the Turnpike now before their planning deadlines in September,” Schrader said.
“We’ll be having some additional open houses in spring 2017, after all data has been gathered and we’ll present the final product to the public,” Davis said.
“With them putting millions of dollars in this project, it’ll just be easier to address these issues now instead of when they’re already done,” Schrader said.