May 4, 2017 3 min read

State transportation officials plan to install a four-way stop sign with advance warning signals at a Cecil Township intersection that was the scene of a near-fatal crash in late March.

The agency informed local officials of the decision Wednesday during a meeting concerning the junction of Route 980 and O’Hare and Chartiers Run Road, long described by local first responders as a dangerous intersection where additional traffic controls are needed.

The extra stop signs to be installed over the next six to eight weeks are part of a long-term plan that will eventually see the intersection converted into a roundabout. Joe Szczur, district executive of PennDOT District 12 – which includes Washington, Fayette, Westmoreland and Greene counties – didn’t have a firm timetable for the completion of that project.

The plan is a “win-win for everyone,” said Muse fire Chief Paul Smith.

“I think we beat city hall on this one,” he said. “We finally got something we’ve been asking for for 20-plus years.”

Drivers coming from Chartiers Run – a state road – and O’Hare encounter stop signs before they pull onto 980, but township officials and PennDOT disagreed for years over whether the intersection warranted additional stop signs on the busy state highway.

A March 26 crash at the intersection – in which police Chief Shawn Bukovinsky credited two passersby with saving the lives of a woman and her three children by pulling them from their burning jeep Wrangler after it collided with a Chevrolet Malibu – spurred local calls for additional measures there. Township manager Don Gennuso cited the wreck in a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf, state Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Carroll Township, and Rep. Jason Ortitay, R-South Fayette Township.

“A number of serious accidents have occurred at this intersection in recent years,” Ortitay said. “I’m hopeful both the short-term and long-term solutions agreed to will reduce accidents and make the intersection safer.”

Supervisors Chairman Tom Casciola was also pleased with the plan. He expected the stop signs to prove effective.

“Most people don’t blow through stop signs, unless they’re a bank robber escaping,” he said.

Szczur said members of his office took a “wholesale look” at the intersection last week.

“There are some unique things about that intersection – people are making improper decisions, and we wanted to figure that out,” he said.

The agency’s decision to install a four-way stop there is a reversal after PennDOT had maintained the measure wasn’t appropriate there. Last year, Szczur warned in a letter to the township that stop signs “where not warranted can actually lead to an increase in crashes.”

Among the factors Szczur cited as reasons for the change of heart was an increase in traffic passing through the intersection, especially along Chartiers Run Road from Canonsburg.

“They looked at traffic counts; the traffic counts had nearly doubled and the situation had changed in their eyes,” said Supervisor Cindy Fisher.

She said she was pleased with the outcome of the talks with PennDOT.

“I would say ‘thrilled’ is an understatement,” she said. “I think it surpassed the expectations of everyone who was at the meeting, and we look forward to improving the safety of that intersection.”