Board approves request to change turn lane

Engineer: Changing through to turn lane could have minimal impact on traffic at Allentown Road and Thorndale Drive

TOWAMENCIN » Township officials are taking steps to tackle another traffic problem; the sudden, and at times dangerous, merge on Allentown Road just past Thorndale Drive.

“The concern is that some vehicles in the outside lane speed through the intersection, and have to again, quickly, transition into the through lane,” said traffic engineer Ken O’Brien.

The intersection in question is just west of Allentown Road and Forty Foot Road, where Allentown Road has two lanes running westbound up to the driveway to Thorndale Drive, then past Thorndale the right-most lane rapidly merges into the center lane. The township supervisors directed the traffic engineering firm back in January to examine that intersection and present possible solutions, and O’Brien reported his findings June 13.

“The first thing we did was coordinate with the police department to look at the crash history of that area, to see if there was a history of crashes,” he said.

From 2012 through 2016 the department noted a total of nine crashes in that area, of which three involved deer. Of the other six, only one involved a vehicle on the northbound approach that is in question, O’Brien said, and that incident was caused by a driver who tried to turn right from an inside lane.

“Of all of the crashes that occurred in five years, it doesn’t appear as if any of them actually involved someone from the outside lane, going through, and having a crash with a vehicle going through,” he said.

“So, we do not believe there is a safety issue at the intersection,” O’Brien said.

The design of the intersection, with two lanes becoming a single last past the intersection, was done according to PennDOT criteria and is similar to others in Montgomery County, according to the engineer.

“We do not believe this is a safety issue. We understand some residents perceive it as an issue, but based on crash history, we do not believe it is a safety issue,” he said.

If the outside lane were changed from a through lane to a right-turn-only lane, and the inside lane was changed to a left-turnonly, what would the traffic impact be? O’Brien said his firm’s traffic study was “skewed, somewhat,” because the adjacent Towamencin Village Shopping Center is largely empty, but traffic backups would likely only see a minimal increase.

“If we make it a single through lane, (queues) will extend for a little over 100 feet in the morning peak, and 300 feet in the afternoon peak hour — it’s an increase, but we don’t anticipate it being a big increase in delay,” he said.

That data was also compared with traffic counts from when the shopping center was close to full occupancy, O’Brien said, and traffic queues using those counts would extend slightly farther, but not back to Forty Foot Road. Since a developer has proposed several possible changes to the shopping center, including the construction of housing or new commercial buildings, O’Brien said it may make more sense to wait on making any changes to the intersection of Allentown and Thorndale until that project proceeds.

“We don’t necessarily believe that changes are needed at this time. We do recommend waiting to see what happens on the site of the vacant shopping center,” he said.

Supervisor Rich Marino asked if, while the design of the roadway may conform to PennDOT standards, the use of the roadway by drivers trying to cut past others is not accounted for in any traffic study.

“I drive that way to work every morning, and what I see is, 90 percent of people do the right thing: they get in the middle through lane, and go through,” he said.

“And if I look in the right rearview mirror, I see those people that don’t get up our of bed early enough, come flying through, they cut in front, and force their way up at the last minute. What do you recommend when it’s more of a utilization issue than a design issue?” Marino said.

Supervisor Dan Littley said he hopes never to respond with Towamencin firefighters to a fatal accident at that intersection caused by someone trying to hurry through, and said he thought making the right lane for right turns only would be the smartest approach.

One option, O’Brien said, could be to ask PennDOT for permission to change the striping and signage on the lanes there now, to indicate that the right lane would be for right turns only. Supervisor Laura Smith asked if the striping could be added on a temporary basis until any shopping center development proceeds, and several residents asked if the northernmost through lane on Allentown Road could be designated for right turns only as it turns right from Forty Foot onto Allentown, then along Allentown to Thorndale.

“I think, from a capacity standpoint, we need the two lanes on Allentown Road at Forty Foot Road. And one thing I do want to point out, at some point we’re going to have the merge,” O’Brien said.

“There is still going to be a merge in that area, it’s just where do you want that merge to be: do you want it to be before Thorndale, or after?” he said.

Marino then made a motion to ask PennDOT for permission to designate the right lane as a right turn only into Thorndale, and the rest of the board unanimously approved it.

“At least we may get an answer from them, and it might lead us to what we need to do when the shopping center is developed,” he said.

Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7:30 p.m. on June 27 at the township administration building, 1090 Troxel Road. For more information visit www. Towamencin.org.