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| Barry Roth called parental concerns a "knee jerk reaction" |
A traffic study must be performed before a township decides to add a stop sign at an intersection. Solicitor Jim Broughal advised the Board that, believe it or not, "Traffic signs cannot be used to control speed, just traffic." He added that a sign installed without a study.
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| Doreen Connelly's daughter stuck by car at that intersection |
Those claims were disputed heavily by Doreen Connelly and Nathan Stannard, parents of the two children who were recently hit.
"Do we need to have a child in intensive care", she asked.
Stonnard, whose son was thrown eight feet in the air by a car that left 28' of skid marks, said that perhaps it's the drivers who need an education. "It's a very dangerous intersection."
Parent Robyn Guadagnino told Commissioners she sees a "near miss" at the intersection nearly every day. "It's the kids taking chances, left and right."
Resident Don Wright reminded Commissioners of a fourteen year old high school girl, a pedestrian who was stuck and killed while crossing Freemansburg Avenue in the Miller Heights section in 2005. He suggested several areas in the township would benefit from a traffic study.
Commissioner Tom Nolan, who advocated for a stop sign at this intersection seven years ago, moved for a traffic study. President Marty Zawarski wondered whether the school district would be willing to share in the cost, but Nolan cut him short. "I don't put a dollar sign on safety," he argued.
Township Engineer Brian Dillman advised the Board that PennDOT will endorse a stop sign at the location if any one of several conditions are present, including high traffic, frequent accidents, reduced visibility. He added that a four-way stop sign is a precursor to a traffic signal.
Commissioner Michael Hudak was absent.
In other business, Commissioners appointed Frank Grillo, a Bulldogs' Assistant Coach, to the Recreation Board. They also awarded Police Officer David Spearko a monthly disability pension of $2,921.75. He was injured on the job in January 2012.
Finally, Manager Melissa Shafer announced that the township's new web page, http://www.bethlehemtownship.org/, has gone live. Among its features is a live chat function, which Shafer believes is a first for a local government in this area. She added that she took seven chats herself. "It's very easy to find what you're looking for," she stated.
24 comments:
Boy does that Township know how to spend money. Every meeting they are spending thousands of dollars on studies, new websites with "chat" and knowbody seems to question it? How about someone do something at that intersection of Derby and Farmersville Road that is dangerous at all times of the day? How about the potholes get fixed? How about streets get sweeped up? How about the community center get fixed? How about that eyesore on William Penn by the School get cleaned up? How about traffic not be snarled on Freemansburg Avenue? There are so many issues needing tending to and now people chat online. Amazing.
11 crashed in 10 years is quite a few.
I was happy with the old website providing that it was kept up to date which it routinely was not. I attend most if not all the meetings and I do not recall a public discussion by the BOC to authorize changing the website unless it is coming out of a line item in the approved budget.
I agree with 6:29!!
Sounds like Zoid is still licking his wounds from losing, LOL......
Funny how it was ok to vote for spending when he was on the other side, and look how many bad decisions he voted for. Enough said!
You can bet they hid the upgrade well in a series of payments to a 3rd party vendor: Your Honor, I object to this anonymous attack on this blog! Sustained. My guess is that they paid well over 10K: Objection! Sustained. which is way too much but it makes them feel good about themselves and the need to spend money.
@6:29 - Rid the money pit of a community rec center and sell it already. My recent understanding is that there is an ongoing mold issue that is costing township taxpayers, more than they realize.
@6:33,
11 accidents in 10 years alone probably won't justify the stop sign. When the $8000 traffic study is done, I doubt there will be sufficient evidence for the change.
6:29, Zoid,
My understanding is that the web page improvements are part of the VoIP changes voted on by Comm'rs several months ago. It is a question of priorities. Some people like transparent government. Others like it so that only they, and a select few others, know what is going on. This was a good move. Your negative reaction to it is something I only see in BT, which really needs an attitude adjustment in a big way.
You complain about potholes, etc.
At the same meeting, they voted to $8,000 for manhole cover repairs, over $10,000 for HVAC repairs at the township buildings. I suppose you'll want to complain about that now, too, bc it cost money. Never mind that it was budgeted.
As for the study, I agree with Nolan's assessment that you don'tr put a price on public safety. That three-way is too close to a number of schools, and I myself have seen near misses. Some of you supposed town fathers have your heads in the sand at a very real traffic problem in BT, and this is just one of many examples. We should not have 11 crashes in 10 years anywhere near three schools. Kids crossing Freemansburg Avenue should not be hit by cars. The development model set up for BT has turned it into the Whitehall Tp of Northampton County. It is quite sad to see. All that development has consequences, including the need for traffic studies.
@8:25,
It is obvious that a 3rd party created the new design. Their logo is on the page. It's the same company that designed the previous site. And, unless the expense exceeded $2000, the commissioners would not have to vote on it.
"11 accidents in 10 years alone probably won't justify the stop sign. "
That is by noi means the sole basis for a stop sign, as the engineer explained. if any one of at least five different warrants exist, a stop sigh is justified. One of those warrants may already exist. There is no clear site triangle, but I won't presume to tell the Township Engineer how to do his job. I'll leave that to you.
Textured crosswalks. Subtle reminder to motorists that an intersection is a place for pedestrians in addition to cars.
That is something he could recommend. There are other measures, too. I can't believe some people would object to a study right after two kids were struck there, and even the Superintendent of Schools has asked that something be done. What is wrong with some people!
6:29... add more police to the list and we have a deal. Their facebook page says we're being hit hard by burglars
I wonder how much could be funded from that concession the Township gave to the developers of Madison Farms?
I would not call that a concession. It was a return of its own deposited money from improvements after that had been done to the satisfaction of the Engineer.
That passed by a 4-0 vote. Where were you before that vote was taken?
One ideas would be to force immigrants to get real drivers licenses. Ask the cops how many people they stop have valid drivers licenses.
This is another rocket scientist chiming in. You can't blame it on the pedestrians, so your next target is illegal immigrants. Alrighty there, Ace.
BO: I'm talking about BT not making Madison Farms pay 100% of their recreation fee last year. They only made them pay 1/2 of it, costing the Township about $670k.
BT SEVERELY NEEDS SOME LEADERSHIP WITH A NEW MANAGER AND PLANNING DIRECTOR STILL CUTTING THEIR TEETH AND NO CLEAR LEADERSHIP ON THE BOC, GOOD THING BROUGHAL AND PIDCOCK ARE THERE OR BT WOULD HAVE CRASHED AND BURNED ALREADY. WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN WHEN PECTOR BRINGS HIS SUBSTANTIAL PROJECT TO THE TOWNSHIP NEXT MONTH ACCORDING TO THE PAPER, TRAFFIC IS ALREADY A MESS AND NOW WHAT?
This is the worst intersection in the Lehigh Valley. Cars that are coming up Santee towards Freedom have no regard for what is going on in the intersection. Experienced drivers have a hard time pulling out. Student drivers and students crossing the street regularly have several near misses everyday! Put up the STOP sign before anyone else gets hurt!!!
@8:59,
You cannot arbitrarily erect a stop sign wherever you please. Wait until the traffic study is done, then gripe about it when it is determined that there are insufficient determining factors for it.
7:50, Pektor has a terrible reputation. He does not pay bills, is not a man of his word. Anything he proposes needs to be viewed with extreme caution.
Lower Macungie Commissioners have a pektor project coming through land development. They need to be very careful....
He's made alot of promises and assurances of quality.
Zoid- it's great that you make all the meetings especially after "happy hour". Get a life
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