Watch Your Speed: Traffic-Calming Measures Coming to Hill Place Road

In just three years, average daily traffic on 's Hill Place Road has increased by 256 percent.

Data compiled by shows 856 vehicles per day on the street 2010, more than 2½ times the figure for 2007. And speeds routinely were measured in excess of 40 mph during that period, although the posted limit is 25.

Responding to Hill Place residents' concerns about safety, Peters Council voted Tuesday to implement traffic-calming measures as recommended by transportation consultant Trans Associates.

The township plans to add center-line rumble strips, white edge lines and new speed limit signs, probably by late summer or early fall. Also, a speed warning device will be placed on the side of the road periodically.

If necessary, a second phase of the traffic-calming plan calls for thermoplastic transverse pavement markings, similar to those on portions of Thompsonville Road, to help slow traffic.

Several speed humps are in place on Thompsonville as one of the more effective measures, but those are impractical on Hill Place because of steep grades, according to Trans principal-in-charge Mark Magalotti.

The road, which connects Thomas, Justabout and Springdale roads near the Peters-North Strabane Township line, provides access to several newer residential developments.

The owner of a residential development in a different part of the township also received an approval from council Tuesday.

Woody Welsch had requested a change in conditional use for Brookview Villas, off Valley Brook Road, to allow up to three homes to be built without installation of automatic fire suppression systems. They had been required in the original plan because Welsch intended to construct a series of duplexes.

He now wants to add single-family homes to the mix, and council agreed that he can forgo sprinklers for such units that are at least 15 feet from a neighboring structure. Welsch said the two lots at each end of the development meet those criteria.

Council also agreed to a zoning change requested by Richard Beinhauer involving on Route 19.

Beinhauer purchased a neighboring property and said he plans to use an existing garage for storage space. To do so, a .87-acre portion of the property had to be rezoned, from R-1A Single-Family Conventional to C-2 General Commercial.

The remainder of the property will maintain its residential use, Beinhauer said.

Domenic Lucia, who lives nearby on Sylvania Drive, told council he objects to changes from residential to commercial, primarily because of concerns about potential construction of crematories in C-2 zones throughout the township.

Beinhauer said that is not his intent.

“Let me put on record that I will not build a crematory on that property.”

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