Centre Hills Village is a seemingly quiet residential neighborhood, sitting above the country club and almost squarely in between East College Avenue and Branch Road. But in recent years and especially in the past eight months, the neighborhood has seen a massive spike in through-traffic that residents say is making the roads increasingly unsafe.
After more than 100 residents signed a petition seeking help, College Township Council on Thursday unanimously agreed to send the matter to the Local Traffic Advisory Committee for study and recommendations and for staff to evaluate short-term measures that can assist with more immediate traffic calming.
‘We’re desperate for change. We need safer streets,’ said Kristin Alachkar, an Oak Ridge Avenue resident.
Residents and township officials agree that the issue appears to stem from drivers using the neighborhood as a shortcut. Vehicles travel up Squirrel Drive then turn onto Oak Ridge Avenue or Shamrock Avenue to connect with Country Club Road and ultimately Branch Road and South Atherton Street.
The opening of the new Giant grocery store in Hills Plaza on South Atherton Street last June, as well as the new KFC in December, seem to have exacerbated the problem.
College Township has collected volume and speed data on Oak Ridge and Shamrock for more than a decade. In March 2019, Oak Ridge Avenue saw an average of 922 vehicles per day traveling westbound (toward Branch Road). In October, that number ballooned to 3,334 vehicles per day. Eastbound traffic going toward Squirrel Drive, however, has remained fairly consistent growing from 1,135 to 1,342 over the same period.
‘It’s very clear in analyzing some of the recent data that there is a pre-Giant Food Store opening volume of traffic and a post (-opening) volume of traffic,’ Township Manager Adam Brumbaugh said. ‘Based on criteria we’ve used in the past to identify a problem and pass it on for further evaluation by the Local Traffic Advisory Committee, this certainly would be in that realm. I don’t think there’s any question. There’s clearly been a change in traffic patterns and, with the volumes we’re seeing here, it is an issue.’
Alachkar noted that the neighborhood does not have sidewalks and anytime residents want to go for a walk or a run, or take kids to a bus stop, they are walking in the same space as a large volume of vehicles that are frequently going above the posted 25-miles-per-hour speed limit. Families, she said, don’t feel safe allowing children to trick-or-treat or ride their bicycles on Oak Ridge Avenue.
Her 9-year-old son, Zaid, said it has become dangerous to go for a jog with his father.
‘Ever since the KFC and the new Giant opened, the traffic has gotten even worse,’ he said. ‘Every time me and my dad go jogging, I have to jump in someone’s yard just so I don’t get hit by a car. We need safer streets for pedestrians.’
Brumbaugh said data shows that on average most vehicles are traveling between 25 and 30 miles per hour, but that with an increase in volume the total number of speeding incidents has increased.
‘Every neighbor seems to have a story of driving home at 25 miles per hour and being passed by an angry speeder,’ Alachkar said, adding that on occasions when a mobile speed display has been deployed, ‘it wasn’t unusual’ to see vehicles going 50 miles per hour or more.
Among the contributing factors to the problem is a lack of stop signs. There is no stop sign for traffic on Squirrel Drive at the Oak Ridge intersection, which Alachkar said is ‘notoriously unsafe,’ as cars make fast turns onto Oak Ridge and those traveling on Oak Ridge don’t realize Squirrel Lane traffic doesn’t have a stop sign.
Resident Jill Musser, who submitted comment that was read by Alachkar, said the intersection has been an issue for more than two decades. In 2000, a school bus stop near the intersection was permanently moved because the bus company found speed and wide turns posed a safety threat to children.
Brad Jones, who lives near the intersection of Country Club Road and Oak Ridge and also submitted comment, noted the lack of a stop sign there on Country Club Road and said it seems like cars are speeding up when they turn onto Oak Ridge.
‘It feels like it is a matter of time before a child gets hit by a car,’ he said.
His sister-in-law, Rachel Jones, who also lives on the street, said her family enjoys being outside but she doesn’t want her children walking near the street and that even crossing to the school bus stop has become worrisome.
‘In the last couple of years traffic has increased and with that the cars that come by that are speeding have also increased,’ she said.
In addition to the LTAC study, Alachkar said residents also are requesting some short-term measures, including increased police presence, posting a ‘cross traffic does not stop’ sign at Oak Ridge and Squirrel, and more frequent deployment of a speed display.
Musser said that as the nearby former Hilltop mobile home park property is developed, traffic will only continue to increase. The ideal solution, she said, would be to prohibit non-resident traffic on Squirrel Drive. If that’s not possible, she said, speed bumps on Oak Ridge and Shamrock are needed.
The LTAC study will likely take several months, but as township staff prepare to submit the matter, they also will be looking at what can be done in the short term, including each of the suggestions presented by Alachkar. Several council members also recommended staff evaluate if stop signs can be added on Squirrel Drive and Country Club Road before the study is completed.
The study will likely also look at the need for any traffic-calming measures on other streets in the village as well.
‘Vehicles that cut through our village do not respect that we are a quiet residential neighborhood and not a bypass,’ Alachkar said.
‘Significant changes are necessary before someone gets hurt or worse.’
