Board hears complaints on Kelso Road traffic

One resident living on Kelso Road in Mt. Lebanon is fed up with the heavy traffic and speeding in her neighborhood.

“We have people driving up Kelso Road at excessive rates of speed,” Susan Snyder said at an Aug. 11 meeting of the Mt. Lebanon Board of Commissioners. “They’re not going 35 miles per hour. I would say they’re going twice that. I feel like I live on the interstate or turnpike.”

Kelso Road is a state road that is an artery to Bower Hill Road.

Ms. Snyder, a retiree who is in her house most days, said traffic includes dump trucks, cement mixers and freight trucks.

“I like to enjoy my house,” she said, adding that when she does want to leave, her driveway is often blocked by traffic.

Ms. Snyder added the road does not have sidewalks, and the speeding traffic poses a danger to residents and children who walk along Kelso Road.

“I think the policemen need to enforce the traffic. They need to come around and write themselves plenty of tickets,” Ms. Snyder said.

But Mt. Lebanon Manager Keith McGill said, “We really don’t have jurisdiction on state roads.”

“We are limited in terms of the traffic control we can do on there because of the fact that it’s a state-maintained road,” added Mt. Lebanon Police Chief Aaron Lauth.

Chief Lauth said because some of the measures put in place due to COVID-19, “the department hasn’t been as aggressive in terms of traffic enforcement because of the direct contacts being limited.”

“We can increase visibility” on Kelso, Chief Lauth said, adding he would let his officers know to step up patrols in that area.

The board of commissioners suggested that Ms. Snyder attend a meeting of the Mt. Lebanon traffic board to voice her concerns and see what other steps may be taken.

In other business, the board awarded a $148,230 contract to Ecological Restoration Inc. for a stream restoration project at Bird Park. The stream, which comes down from Washington Road and curls around Youngwood Road toward Bird Park, has eroded due to heavy rains.

The project will involve installing structures that will slow the flow of the water, such as natural logs, rock lining and planting along the stream’s banks. Dead trees around the banks also will be removed.