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Stop signs a go on Route 980

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Traffic on Route 980 in Cecil Township will have to stop in both directions at O’Hare and Chartiers Run roads when signs are uncovered next Monday. The signs were installed Monday along with message boards warning motorists of the upcoming change.

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Traffic on Route 980 in Cecil Township will have to stop in both directions at O’Hare and Chartiers Run roads when signs are uncovered next Monday. The signs were installed Monday along with message boards warning motorists of the upcoming change.

The state Department of Transportation is installing stop signs at a Cecil Township intersection that first responders and residents regard as dangerous.

PennDOT crews Monday began work on a four-way stop at the crossroads of Route 980 and O’Hare and Chartiers Run roads. The agency is replacing stop signs where O’Hare and Chartiers Run meet Route 980, and is installing, for the first time, stop signs on Route 980 at the turn to those other roadways. Message boards inform approaching motorists of the work.

PennDOT also is placing a “four-way” indicator on each sign, setting down stop bars at all approaches and putting in a “Stop Ahead” sign in each direction on Route 980.

The installations will be completed this week. Cecil Manager Don Gennuso said the signs will be “bagged and covered” until next Monday, when the changes will take effect. Message boards will be updated next week to advise commuters the four-way stop has been implemented.

The changes are part of a plan that calls for the intersection to eventually be converted into a roundabout.

A call for additional safety measures intensified following a March 26 crash at that intersection that could have turned fatal. Cecil police Chief Shawn Bukovinsky said two passersby pulled a woman and her three children from their burning vehicle following a two-vehicle collision.

Gennuso wrote about the wreck in a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf, state Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Carroll Township, and Rep. Jason Ortitay, R-South Fayette Township.

The project is a 180-degree turn for PennDOT, which a year ago said a four-way stop at this location was unnecessary. Joe Szczur, district executive of PennDOT District 12 – covering Washington, Greene, Fayette and Westmoreland counties – wrote in a letter to Cecil officials stop signs “where not warranted can actually lead to an increase in crashes.”

An uptick in traffic counts through that intersection, Szczur said, is one reason PennDOT reversed itself.

Traffic along Chartiers Run Road from Canonsburg has picked up quite a bit.

This project began almost exactly a month after PennDOT told Cecil officials it would make the changes. At that time, the agency said the installations would take place in six to eight weeks.

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