Route 18 closure irks Canton neighborhood
Bob Iams found himself over the past few weeks standing on the front porch of his Cortez Drive home holding a radar gun while watching a stream of cars and work trucks speeding through his previously quiet Canton Township neighborhood.
The bridge closure on Route 18 (Henderson Avenue) near North Hewitt Avenue earlier this month dumped more traffic into his neighborhood – even though it’s not the posted detour – as motorists look for a shortcut around the construction.
The traffic is a problem, Iams said, but it’s really the speeding cars that have him and others concerned.
“We’re worried about the kids,” Iams said. “These people are flying through, and they just don’t care.”
Work began on the bridge along the Washington-Canton Township municipal line Sept. 8 as crews began preparing the site for construction. The nearly $750,000 project to remove the existing bridge and build a new span is expected to be completed by mid-November.
Iams and several of his neighbors blamed the state Department of Transportation for poorly marked signs leading to the posted detour from Route 18 and questioned whether Canton Township officials are doing enough to slow down cars.
The neighbors said traffic is solid during the morning commute, slows a bit during the middle of the day, and picks up again just before the evening drive home. Those hours are when local children are boarding or exiting school buses, which has neighbors worried added traffic might lead to an accident involving a student walking to or from their stop.
“It’s horrific,” Cortez Drive resident Marcy Von Scio said. “I know nothing can be done with the volume of traffic, but there’s a posted speed limit (of 25 mph) that needs to be followed. The township is doing nothing to stop it.”
But Canton Supervisor Bob Franks said they’ve asked state police, who protect the township, to add patrols in the area. He’s not sure what more local officials can do since Cortez Drive and other nearby streets are public roads that can’t be closed to traffic.
“It’s mainly local people who know the area that have been cutting across,” Franks said. “This is only a temporary thing. In a month or two, it will be gone. There’s nothing more that can be done.”
Iams said residents are seeing a number of work trucks driving through, and he has parked his car on the road in an attempt to slow the traffic, but the township told him that was illegal and ordered him to stop. Franks said officials can’t make an exception for one neighborhood, although Von Scio thinks they should during the bridge construction.
“Of all things to enforce on our road when they’ve got bigger fish to fry,” Von Scio said of the on-street-parking ordinance.
If the township won’t allow them to park their cars on the road, resident Judy Smith wants them to install temporary “speed humps” that will slow drivers.
“A speed hump would be a simple, temporary solution,” Smith said.
PennDOT spokesman Jay Ofsanik said they have tried to make motorists aware of the posted detour that takes traffic to North Main Street through South Strabane and the city, but he planned to speak to the traffic department about adding signs elsewhere. Still, he admitted drivers who know the area will find their own way around a construction zone.
“You’re going to have local people, no matter what you do, who take the shortest route,” Ofsanik said. “I don’t think there is anything that will stop the local folks who know the shortcuts.”