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Morrisville moves to pursue grants after Gilmore traffic‑calming study on South Pennsylvania Ave
Summary
After a traffic study showed 80th‑percentile speeds reaching 32 mph at the Post Road segment, council authorized grant applications for traffic‑calming measures, including raised crosswalks and curb extensions; motions to pursue DCED and signal‑replacement grants passed unanimously.
Morrisville Borough Council heard a traffic‑calming study from Gilmore & Associates showing higher‑than‑desired speeds on South Pennsylvania Avenue and directed staff to pursue grant funding for countermeasures.
Jacob, the presenting engineer, said the study covered about 3,500 feet from the US off‑ramps south of Green Street to the borough line at Post Road. "The 80th‑percentile speeds ... around Green Street, we calculated an average speed of 23 miles per hour," he said, adding that speeds rose to about 29 mph near the cemetery and to 32 mph at Post Road. Vehicle counts averaged roughly 5,116 vehicles per day at Green Street, 4,954 at the cemetery section and 3,596 near Post Road.
Gilmore recommended several PennDOT‑approved measures including raised crosswalks (proposed for Cleveland Avenue), curb extensions/bump‑outs at key intersections to shorten crossing distances, gateway medians (option at Post Road) and bicycle treatments such as sharrows where separate lanes are not feasible. The firm also outlined likely grant sources: the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) Multimodal Transportation Fund (application due July 31), the PennDOT Multimodal Transportation Fund (due in November) and the Local Share Account.
Council then approved motions to authorize Gilmore to prepare and submit a DCED multimodal grant application for the South Pennsylvania Avenue traffic‑calming recommendations and to prepare a grant application for replacement of the traffic signal at North Pennsylvania and Trenton Avenue. Both motions passed unanimously (7–0 on the recorded votes for those agenda items). Jacob said the grant applications will include preliminary cost estimates and the council indicated support for pursuing the more costly alternative in the grant application and refining design if funding is secured.
The recommendations will move into design and grant‑application phases; council directed staff to include signal upgrades in the grant package where applicable.
