Nov 10, 2004 By Patty Shultz 4 min read

CONNELLSVILLE – If it’s not broke, then don’t fix it was the consensus of those gathered at city hall Tuesday in reference to a state Department of Transportation proposal to reroute some vehicular traffic through the Route 119/201 and Crawford Avenue intersections. The lack of support for the plan by business owners, residents, emergency personnel and others apparently struck a chord with the transportation officials with Joseph Szczur, PennDOT district engineer, stating the planners will “go back to the drawing board” to consider other options.

“We’re going to put this aside,” Szczur told the 50-plus that packed the council chambers. “This was just a concept.”

The proposal, according to Brian Hart, transportation department district traffic engineer, was to alleviate traffic congestion at the Five Corner intersection where Route 119 southbound converges with Crawford Avenue and Route 201, West Crawford Avenue and Route 119 northbound.

The department, said Hart, believed with the construction of Widewaters Commons, a strip mall and grocery store at the Route 119/201 intersection and a Wal-Mart store in neighboring Dunbar Township and also along Route 119, it was necessary to analyze the impact the two businesses would create in the city.

“We were looking at different scenarios as to how we could reduce congestion,” he said.

Describing the new pattern as a “one-way pair system” where the two directions of traffic are split, said Hart, would lessen long traffic lines that are now controlled by several cued traffic signals.

The pattern would require vehicular traffic entering the city from West Crawford Avenue and Route 201 to travel a short distance along the southbound corridor of Route 119 to Marietta Street and then onto Route 119 northbound to Crawford Avenue.

“If the residents and the businesses are happy with the way it is, why do we need an alternative plan?” asked Councilman Charles Matthews. “If we’re willing to sit in that traffic (at the intersections) why is it a problem?”

Matthews, a former city police chief and current chief of security with the Connellsville Area School District, said he frequently travels through the intersection and has found that there are times trucks, buses and cars are lined up at the signaled intersection, but it is restricted to Fridays at about 5 p.m.

He said those familiar with the city streets use neighborhood roadways and alleys to avoid the area.

“I think we’re happy to take the 10 or 15 minutes it takes to get through town, maybe once or twice a week at peak times; the rest of the time there’s no problem,” he said.

Several residents pointed to truck traffic causing tie-ups at the intersection of Route 119 and Marietta which would create additional problems along Route 119.

Kathryn’s Jewelry Store owner Joseph Orszulak told the PennDOT officials that his early morning travel from his Route 201 area home to his East Crawford Avenue business is minimal, with only one of the two traffic signals in the area impeding the route.

“(A new route) would impact the businesses on the West Side and in the heart of Connellsville,” he said. “Your impacting (travel) time; gasoline is $2 a gallon.

“I believe if you do this plan, you’ll only drive a few more nails into the (now struggling) businesses of Connellsville.”

Bob Topper, Fayette EMS administrative director, said that the proposed route would cause delays in reaching the sick and injured and delivering the patient to the local hospital.

James Lembo, Connellsville Area School District transportation director said that bus traffic could not use Marietta Street and would be forced into traveling southbound to the city limits and then re-entering the city along the northbound corridor of Route 119.

Szczur said that PennDOT would work with the city to devise a plan that will be supported by its residents and business owners.

“We’ll make sure we don’t cause any problems,” he said.

Mayor Judy Reed said that she plans to form a consulting committee comprised of various business owners and residents to make proposals that could be passed on to PennDOT for consideration.

“We have to work together,” she said.