Peters Township addresses speeding problems
Hays Road in Upper St. Clair and Peters Township is only about a mile and a half long, yet 1,600 vehicles travel it daily, using it as a shortcut from Washington Road to McMurray Road. And, most of the vehicles are traveling faster than the posted 25 mph speed limit.
Even though only 20 or so homes border the busy thoroughfare in Peters, enough Hays Road residents have complained about the speeders to gain the attention of Peters Township officials, who are now examining ways to slow the road’s motorists.
“The residents feel it is a problem because cars fly up and down the road,” said Peters Township police Chief Harry Fruecht during a public hearing Tuesday to gather citizen input about what to do about the traffic problem. “And, the road is narrow.”
Hays Road residents, as well as those living on Platinum Place and Diamond Drive, off of Hays, will be receiving a survey from the township later this month asking if they think there is a speeding problem and, if so, who is causing it and what sort of traffic-control device they would like to see installed. The survey also asks residents if cut-through traffic is a problem.
Township manager Michael Silvestri said Hays is scheduled to be repaved next month. Once the township learns from the Hays Road residents how they would like to slow traffic – signs, speed bumps, a landscape divider, rumble strips or a combination of options – then those will be installed.
Edward Boal, one of a handful of Hays Road residents who came to the hearing, asked if there was any possibility that the road could be widened but was told by Michael Mudry, an Upper St. Clair traffic engineer who did the township traffic study, there simply is not enough room.
“Rumble strips would be a good idea because of the bend in the road,” said Mudry, adding that might slow the traffic from Upper St. Clair, where the majority of Hays Road is located.
Because Upper St. Clair’s portion of Hays is flat, wide and not too populated, people tend to speed, Mudry said. The road narrows and becomes windy once it enters Peters.
“We want to stop the speeding before people enter Peters,” Mudry said.