EPR Dallas Post 10 Dallas, PA Thursday, December 19, 2002 Traffic: (continued from page 1) miles driven is growing. The growth has continued; people are really taking that road that didn't take it before,” said Chuck Mattei, Chief Engineer at PennDOT District 4. Robert Jolley, Dallas Town- ship Chief of Police, echoed the same sentiment, saying that the single biggest change he's seen in his township is in- creased volume. Mattei said the decline in ac- cidents at the same time as the increase of volume is due to planning that went into prepar- ing for the completion of the Cross Valley Expressway. In anticipation of an increase in traffic volume, Mattei said numerous foad improvements were made to stretches of Routes 309 and 415. Throughout the 1990s lights at various intersections were added, existing light systems were upgraded and a fifth lane was added in parts of Kingston and Dallas townships on 309. “We noticed a solid decrease in the seriousness of the acci- dents,” said James Balavage, Police Chief of Kingston Town- ship. He said with the addition of the fifth lane, his department noticed a difference in safety al- most immediately. “What we've noticed is our severity has gone down.” Robert Jolley Police Chief, Dallas Township Chief Jolley said he had not noticed the decline in the acci- dent rate but reiterated Bal- avage’s point. “What we've no- ticed is our severity has gone down,” said Jolley. Jolley be- lieves traffic signals added to the intersections of Routes 118 and 415 and Main Road and 309 in 1996 have slowed people down, reducing severity as well as inducing the accident rate to go down. “I think it's the signalization project that has given the break in the traffic pattern,” said Jol- ley. “It has created more control over the whole thing.” In 1995 and 1996, new sig- nals were added and existing signals were updated with larg- er signal heads and were inter- connected © throughout the 309/415 corridor. Mattei said that initially many people in the Back Moun- tain region were concerned about increased strain the Cross Valley's additional vol- ume would put on their ser- vices. As a result, Mattei said PennDOT and members of Back Mountain communities “worked as a team” to plan the changes Dunay Jewelers XMAS GIFT (0 CENTER XN *Diamonds *Watches eGrandfather Clocks Full Line of Sterling Silver Jewelry *Expert Watch & Jewelry Repairs (Done on Premises) 45 ¥ ¥ T T T w 2 £2 $ 40} J i” Las Le) i © od ww 2 Oo 35 # wes Eo (13) E = S © 30 F ay bw ju] pe fr 25 I} 3 A A i i I 1886 1988 1880 1982 1884 1886 1888 2000 2002 Year The number of cars and trucks traveling on Route 309 has increased dramatically since the opening of the Cross Valley Expressway. 250 ~&— Kingston Township —g- Dallas Township Number of accidents for entire calendar year Year The number of accidents has declined despite the increase in vol- ume, although less so in Kingston Township. that would be geared toward accommodating the new traffic volumes. “This was a community effort. We had the community in- volved, police, ambulance, su- pervisors, we devised a plan to- gether,” Mattei said. Accidents in Kingston Town- ship are down an average of four per year, as opposed to 10 yearly in Dallas Township. Mat- tei said the much higher vol- ume of traffic in areas of Kingston Township is the rea- son accidents aren't declining as rapidly. There are still areas in the townships that need to be ad- dressed. Joe Moskovitz, Dallas Borough Manager, said recently that all the intersections in Dal- las Borough are a challenge. Jolley cited the intersection of Hildebrandt, Upper Demunds and Route 309 as a troubled spot in Dallas Township. In Kingston Township, Balavage is 9 E. 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Deadly (continued from page 1) needed. “We would look at it in histori- cal trend to see if it's (the No- vember accident) an anomaly, or trending up,” said Mattei. If determined that the previ- ous accident was not an anom- aly, he said there would be a couple options. “We can limit (left turns) with signing. If something is more en- demic with the roadway, the next step is a barrier,” said Mat- tei. Mattei said “no left turn” signs are adequate when one small area is affected. A barrier is ap- propriate when the high occur- rence of accidents affects a larg- er span of road. Mattei said that normally bar- riers are appropriate in areas that have a daily volume of 70,000-100,000 cars a day; whereas, the area in question has about half of that. Because the barrier would prevent all left turns, Balavage said the business community has not reacted positively to the idea in the past. Balavage, who years ago was involved in a similar accident, says there is one steadfast rule when traveling on Route 309: “Don’t cross four lanes of traf- fic to go south or north. Don’t make any left turns on 309. Go to a traffic light and wait for the green.” Advice from James Balavage, Chief of Police in Kingston Township: “Don’t cross four lanes of traffic to go south or north. Don’t make any left turns on 309. Go to a traffic light and wait for the green.” Kingston Twp. dips into reserve to balance budget * By CARRIE MATHENY Post Correspondent KINGSTON TWP. — Kingston Township Board of Supervisors passed the 2003 budget at Mon- day night's meeting. Despite the difficulties the township has been having, the board of supervisors managed to get the budget bal- anced by taking out $160,000 from the township's capital re- serve fund. The budget consists of $2,071,126 in revenue and ex- penditures. “There will be no increase in taxes, no layoffs, and township residents will see no change in their services,” said Supervisor J. - Carl Goodwin. According to Paul Sabol, Chair- man, because Kingston Township only had a town manager for part of 2002 and with police officer Skip Davis retiring and officer Ben Bigus being activated for military duty, the township man- aged to end the year better than it had planned. If it weren't for these unexpected cuts in payroll, the township would have ended the year $95,000 worse off. The township is also looking into a discrepancy in the amount it received for the earned income tax. Kingston Township currently has a wage tax of 1.5 percent. Berkheimer collects .5 percent that is designated for the schools and Wilkinson collects 1 percent for the township. Last year, Berkheimer sent the township $855,000. The supervisors feel that since the township's tax is | Visioning meeting postponed by storm twice as high as the school’s it: should have received $1,711,000. However, it only recéived $1,468,000 from Wilkinson. The township is looking into where the other $243,000 went. Supervisor John Versari added that the township had to take $25,000 from its general fund be- cause engineering, -advertising, and matters involving the Sun- rise Estates development were all over budget. “If you look around the county, everyone is having a rough time,” said Sabol. “These problems were here already, now it's up to us to take care of them.” Some supervisors are chipping in with their own money to get the township back on track. Goodwin announced at Monday night's meeting that he is going to donate his supervisor's salary to the township's general fund. Supervisor Chris Yankovich al- ready donates his salary to Kingston Township's fire and am- bulance companies. To save money, the township eliminated the $500 contribution to the Mountain Grange and the $300 contribution to the Carver- ton Cemetery from the 2008 bud- get. The township also approved a traffic study by Borton-Lawson Engineering for the intersection of Pioneer Avenue and Sutton Road to see if a stop sign is need- ed. Goodwin made a motion to request PennDOT do a study of g Route 309 because of all the re- cent accidents. 3 a8 The meeting of the "Our Dallas — Today and Tomorrow” com-" munity visioning initiative scheduled for December 15 was can- celled because of a snow storm. The meeting has been rescheduled for Wednesday, January 22 at 7 p.m. at College Misericordia. More details will appear in is- sues of The Dallas Post leading up to that date. Co Lake Township recycling schedule The voluntary recycling drop-off center for Lake Township will be accepting items on the second Sat- urday of each month. the next opening will be Jan. 11 from 10 a.m: to 12 noon at the township building on Rt. 29. The following items may be dropped off: aluminum and bi-metal cans, clear, brown and green glass, plastic #1 and #2 only. No motor oil containers or scrap aluminum can be accepted. this month newspaper will be collected at the same time. Pack papers tight in paper bags with the glossy inserts re- moved. The center asks that persons do not drop off items before it opens. ® \ ‘Dinner; in Thyme _ for New Year's! % Er: alive i Enjoy a picturesque view of our Ade “Holiday Winter Wonderland” streamside. x This evening will feature our Sls items of: _ Prime Rib ® Colossal Lobster Tail ~~, = And Our Full Menu yr Ts Book your New Year's Eve Dinner Reservations between 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. - 12:00 midnight and receive a complimentary dessert of your choice. nthe No the IW in the Srecutive ow 7:00 p- m. to MI Guaranteed reservations required. Call 824-9831 ext. 305 «with all osc Just Say, CHARGE IT! MasterCard. immediately. Re —————] ora] VISA The Post now accepts Visa & Mastercard for all your subscriptions, classified ads, and display ads. For maximum convenience, call our office at 675- 5211 with your account and we will set you up The Dallas Post 675-5211 Put A Little Style in His Stocking! 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