Rt. 15 Corridor Improvement Recap

Last night at the Union County Government Center, there was a 2nd public meeting to discuss plans for the "Rt. 15 Corridor Improvement Plan." For those of you who wanted to go but were not able to, I took some notes. Most importantly, remember this: none of this is a final plan! These are all preliminary recommendations at this point. If you have comments or feedback (in favor or opposed), they want to hear from you! Visit http://www.unioncountypa.org/residents/government/county/route15_corridor/

The format of the meeting was a Powerpoint presentation narrated by 2 of the principal engineers from McCormack Taylor, followed by an "open mixer" session in another conference room where many of the maps, plans, and artist renderings of the possible improvements were on display. The speakers emphasized that we are currently in Month #8 of a 12-month planning process, which would then be followed by the "legwork" of zoning, seeking easements, actual engineering analysis, and other steps that have not been done yet. It was implied that the improvements would not be completed until at least 2013.

Here are my notes from the 2 engineers' presentations:


Bert Cassaboon, McCormack Taylor.
1. Scope: The 'corridor' being improved consists of the segment of U.S. 15 from just south of Beagle Club Rd/River Rd to just north of Wm. Penn Drive (a.k.a. the light at BZ Motors/Weis), to include both those intersections. "Corridor Planning" includes consideration of transportation issues, land use issues, and other integrated activities.


2. Feedback thus far. The most common themes they have received strong comments on thus far have been about: safety; bike/pedestrian access; the Buffalo Valley Rail Trail and how it will cross US-15; aesthetics; congestion, noise and quality-of-life. From the 'aesthetics' point of view, they have conducted structured focus groups where participants were shown photographs of roads or roadside businesses in other parts of the country and asked to rate what they liked vs. didn't like about various photos. This feedback has guided the planners' thinking on how to design aesthetically-pleasing features.


Rob Watts, McCormack Taylor.
Mr. Watts 'stepped through' different zones of the corridor to discuss the main improvements that were being recommended in the current plan:

1. Transition zones. The look and signage would be changed in multiple transition zones at the north and south ends of the corridor to cue highway drivers (particularly trucks) that they were entering a more suburban area and needed to reduce speed.

2. Median and Sidewalks. In general, the plan is to add a median strip ("refuge" for pedestrians) and sidewalks (separated from the roadway by a narrow strip of grass/trees) on either side of US-15 from at least Rt.45/Market St. up to Wm. Penn Drive. The addition of the median will eliminate most of the existing left-turn lanes at minor intersections, but their analysis suggests that this will not have a significant negative impact on access to businesses. Three major intersections (see below) will also be improved to allow U-turns.

3. At the intersection of Beagle Club Rd/River Rd, right turn lanes will be added and/or the east end of Beagle Club may be moved north to reduce accidents from people trying to drive straight across from Beagle Club to River Rd.

4. At the "Bucknell light" (intersection of Smoketown Rd/Moore Ave.), Smoketown Rd. will be moved north so that all 4 roads enter at a 90-degree angle, 4 wide crosswalks with pedestrian countdown signals will be added to make this more of a prominent "gateway" into Bucknell.

5. Just south of the Rt.45/Market St. intersection, the north end of Stein Lane will be moved south and a right-turn lane will be added to improve safety and reduce congestion from people currently veering right onto Stein at that intersection. Also, the crosswalks here will be improved (straightened, shortened, add pedestrian countdown timers).

6. At the intersection of St. Mary St., the east side of St. Mary St. will be moved south so that all 4 roads are at 90-degree angles, and the intersection will be improved for pedestrians (wider, straight crosswalks, timers).

7. At the intersections of 4th St. and 7th St., add left turn lanes on the southbound direction to reduce accidents but block left turns from the northbound direction to eliminate the "shared bidirectional left turn lanes" that are there now and often cause head-on collisions.

8. Improve the intersection at Wm. Penn Drive for pedestrians (wider, straighter crosswalks, timers).

9. Finally, note that the engineers have not recommended adding or subtracting any existing traffic signals. However, they do recommend replacing the current signals with a 'smarter' system that has been used in Carlisle and elsewhere that includes video cameras to adjust the timing of lights and allows the signals to transmit information to each other to improve the flow of traffic through the corridor. This improvement was touted as a worthwhile investment whether or not the Central Susquehanna Valley Thruway ever gets built.