N. Strabane seeks study of busy McDowell Lane
A truck travels on McDowell Lane on Wednesday.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Vehicles travel on McDowell Lane Wednesday.
No longer content to rely on developers’ assessments alone, North Strabane Township supervisors Tuesday voted to authorize their own study of traffic on heavily traveled McDowell Lane.
The supervisors’ 5-0 vote authorized manager Andy Walz to have a traffic study performed for the narrow two-mile township road that serves as a shortcut for many drivers between Interstate 79 and Route 19. Residents complain about congestion in the area where rapid housing development has brought increased traffic and promises to bring more.
Supervisors Chairman Robert Balogh said the study is more comprehensive than the ones developers have to perform as part of the approval process for projects such as housing plans. Instead, it will deal with traffic along the whole corridor.
“We’ve had so many complaints about traffic on McDowell Lane,” Balogh said. “And each time we hear about a developer doing a traffic study, they have focused their traffic study on the impacts that their development has on the roadway, to the exclusion of other traffic.”
Despite the traffic complaints, township fire Chief Mark Grimm said his department “doesn’t have a lot of accidents” on McDowell.
“This year, to date, we haven’t had any accidents,” he added.
Last year, he said there were two. Both occurred during the winter and were weather-related.
Walz said Gateway Engineers will prepare the study. As part of their vote, supervisors adopted his recommendation that the study also include a “need survey” assessing the conditions of the road.
Pete Weaver of nearby Twilight Drive welcomed Walz’s suggestion.
“The road is too bumpy, too many springs freeze, too many blind curves on the hillside,” Weaver said. “I know you can’t move it or straighten it out, but having some signage will help people know what’s coming.”