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Chester County Press

Police to study Willowdale Lane traffic again

10/15/2021 04:45PM ● By Steven Hoffman

East Marlborough Township will ask its police department to conduct a second traffic study on Willowdale Lane to see if additional traffic calming measures could address residents’ speeding concerns.

There are two speed humps on the road, but a number of Willowdale Lane residents are asking the township to install a third one near the intersection with Route 926.

“Delivery trucks and non-Willowdale/Hickory residents routinely use Willowdale as a ‘cut-through’ at speeds past our house that are simply too high for the children and pets that live here,” Casey Sclar wrote in an email to the township, saying at the meeting that it represented a safety issue. “We see a high volume of trucks and trailers using this as a cut-through. We have no sidewalks, and the lighting is poor. It’s a dangerous situation.” The posted speed limit is 25 mph.

Police surveyed traffic between Sept. 15 and 21 and analyzed more than 2,600 vehicles, according to a speed data analysis. Six percent of those vehicles, or 147, would qualify for enforceable violations.

That means that cars would need to be going more than 10 mph for it to be considered enforceable, said township Manager Neil Lovekin.

Three percent of vehicles were speeding south on Willowdale Lane during the traffic study, with the highest numbers of speeders being clocked on Sept. 17. Five vehicles were going more than 15 mph during the study period.

Eight percent of vehicles were speeding north on Willowdale Lane during the initial study, with the highest numbers of vehicles speeding on Sept. 16. Sixteen vehicles were driving more than 15 mph over the speed limit, and two were clocked doing more than 20 mph over the limit.

Township staff will ask the traffic engineer to work up where a third speed hump could be located.


In other business:

  • There were three executive sessions on Sept. 13 for real estate and personnel, and one each on Sept. 29 (for legal advice) and Oct. 4 (for personnel and real estate matters).
  • The supervisors voted 4-1, with Kathryn Monahan voting no, to send out a request for proposal for professional engineering services beginning Jan. 3, 2022. Engineering companies will have until 4 p.m. Nov. 19 to submit proposals to the township. 
  • The board gave the Farmer & Co. restaurant a green light to sell “locally produced, small-batch beer, wine, and spirits,” according to Resolution 2021-37. The restaurant can sell anything brewed or distilled within 35 miles daily between noon and 9 p.m.
  • The supervisors approved a $216,408.40 escrow release for Longwood Preserve.