The Southern Berks News

Garey Road issues ‘on hold’

- By Denise Larive For Digital First Media

UNION TWP. >> No new traffic control devices have been added on north Gary Road, and Union Township Supervisor­s said March 20 that there is currently no solution for the road’s vehicular speeding issue.

North Garey Road is north of the Daniel Boone High School — accessed from the school by a left turn at the eastern end of the school property.

Board members said in February that Garey Road residents have complained to them for years of vehicular speeding, as well as failure to stop at the four-way intersecti­on at Garey Road and Lanie Drive.

Board Chairman Donald E. Basile asked Township Tngineer Thomas Unger last November to “find a solution” to the speeding issue.

His request came after the township’s recent engineerin­g study didn’t support new signage that would restrict the left turns from the school property.

Nor did the study support a three-way intersecti­on at Garey Road and Fourth Street -- the site of accidents on Garey Road.

Raymond Benischeck, 328 Garey Road, said he is aware that new traffic control devices will not be installed, but appealed for the stop signs, citing two accidents since January 2017.

“I don’t know why you can’t look again at a stop sign there,” asked Benischeck.

Supervisor Nelson L. Ott Jr., said the township’s engineerin­g study was conducted in September 2016, at a cost of $1,500.

He and Supervisor Terry Kennedy said the road’s is- sues — and all possible solutions — have been explored, but aren’t currently supported either by PennDOT (such as the stop signs, turn restrictio­ns, or a speed bump), or financiall­y (such as a security guard or police officer to ticket violations).

Kennedy offered a glimmer of hope for the future, stating, “Maybe with the new number of accidents there.”

He said in February that the school district administra­tion is doing their own traffic counts and monitoring the traffic patterns.

“They said it is a 60/40 split — they’re not all going down the hill [north on Garey Road], and not all going up the hill [to the school],” said Kennedy, indicating that vehicles are entering and exiting the eastern end of the property on south Garey Road.

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