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Residents press Crafton council for traffic calming; officials cite jurisdiction and PennDOT limits
Summary
At the Jan. 5 meeting residents described repeated stop‑sign runs and near-misses on a Poplar/Starett corridor; council and staff said prior monitoring occurred, enforcement is limited by jurisdictional boundaries with Pittsburgh and PennDOT standards constrain speed‑bump placement.
Multiple Crafton residents used the public-comment period on Jan. 5 to press the borough council for action on drivers who regularly run stop signs and create near-miss incidents on a corridor near the Pittsburgh border.
Resident James Meggen described repeated incidents on his street and urged the council to address the problem. Stephanie Mangan and other neighbors echoed concerns about safety and recent incidents near porches and sidewalks.
During the discussion, staff and officials described prior monitoring and enforcement steps and explained limits on immediate fixes. A borough staffer said the analysis found "there actually isn't that many speeders," noting the corridor carries heavy traffic volumes; another council member and staff clarified PennDOT guidance that speed bumps are typically recommended only on stretches "above 500 feet" and that the local segment measured roughly "350 feet" (staff comment corrected from yards to feet on the record). Officials also noted part of the problem is the road's border location with the city of Pittsburgh, which complicates enforcement.
Chief Richard Ford described enforcement capacity and interjurisdictional cooperation: "I typically have 2 officers on at all times," he said, and noted targeted enforcement can work if consistently applied but that staffing and jurisdictional limits constrain sustained deployment. Residents also related near-miss experiences. One attendee, Sandy, said: "I've been almost hit several times coming out of Hall because people are just flying to that stop sign and breezing through it."
Council members said they would continue outreach to Pittsburgh officials, consider options such as bump‑outs (road‑narrowing) that the borough can implement, and examine funding implications for infrastructure changes. Several members urged a deeper review and further study before committing to expensive infrastructure changes.
The conversation concluded with an agreement to follow up: staff offered to continue outreach to neighboring city officials, evaluate enforcement options and consider traffic‑calming options that meet PennDOT standards and borough budget constraints.
