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Teens and residents urge faster safety fixes at dangerous Bethel Park intersections
Summary
Teen Scarlett Stockhausen and Jordan Street residents pressed Bethel Park Council to accelerate traffic-safety fixes after repeated crashes and inconsistent enforcement, asking the borough to pursue physical traffic-calming measures and speed up work with PennDOT.
Scarlett Stockhausen, a 16-year-old Buffalo Park High School student, told Bethel Park Borough Council she has feared for her safety at the intersection of Broughton and Willis Road since childhood and urged faster action from the borough and PennDOT after a recent rollover that sent two people to the hospital.
"I don't wanna die 15 yards from my house," Stockhausen said, noting 16 confirmed crashes at the intersection since 2021 and that she has gathered more than 1,000 resident signatures supporting a traffic signal.
The appeals came during the meeting's public-comment period, when other residents also raised long-running neighborhood traffic concerns. Catherine McCarthy, who lives on Jordan Street, described motorists using the street as a cut-through, excessive speeds of 35–40 mph in a posted 25 mph zone, and inconsistent enforcement after new no-parking signs were installed in 2024.
"Jordan Street residents deserve more than signs that are crooked, mixed messages, officers that aren't all on board, and blatant inaction," McCarthy said, and urged the council to fund "real traffic calming, including speed bumps and other physical measures that will actually slow drivers down."
Another resident, Sue Means, questioned municipal communications about building use and the process around a proposed apartment project at the Crowne Plaza site, urging the council to ensure compliance with open-meeting rules and to press the administration for complete information.
Council members did not announce a new timetable for specific engineering changes on Broughton and Willis or for Jordan Street physical-calming measures during the meeting. Several items later on the agenda addressed traffic control at other locations: the council adopted an ordinance establishing an additional stop intersection at Barnes and Centerman avenues and approved a traffic-study-based stop sign installation earlier in the agenda.
The meeting record shows repeated requests from residents for the borough to escalate coordination with PennDOT and to prioritize physical infrastructure over signage alone; councilmembers referenced existing traffic studies but did not commit to a timeline at the meeting. The borough's police chief had reminded the public earlier in the evening that officers are enforcing distracted-driving rules under the new Paul Miller law, which took effect on June 6, and asked drivers to use hands-free options or pull over for calls.
Next steps: Residents asked the council to press PennDOT for a faster solution and to consider localized physical-calming investments; no specific funding or schedule was adopted during the June 8 meeting.
