UMPD Presents Surprising Facts about Easton Road Traffic

Sgt. Peter Ruddell presented some surprising facts about the traffic conditions around the Turnpike along the Easton Road corridor.

Ruddell’s presentation to the Feb. 27 Public Health and Safety committee was the result of a traffic study for the Route 611 (Easton Road) corridor, between Maryland and Blair Mill roads, the latter being the border to Horsham Township.

The study was at the request of Ward 2 commissioner Kevin Spearing.

“This seems to draw the attention of the police department,” Ruddell said of this Easton Road corridor.

In his presentation, Ruddell identified the 0.7-mile corridor as a main thoroughfare for travelers in both Montgomery and Bucks counties. It holds seven lanes of traffic, has several intersecting streets and is lined with businesses, all with entrance points from Easton Road. The corridor is also a main access point to the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

According to Ruddell, Willow Grove is the fourth most-used interchange in the state.

After speaking with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, Ruddell found that an average of 56,289 vehicles enter and exit the Willow Grove Interchange on a daily basis.

“And if anybody is familiar with the area, that’s on 611,” Ruddell said, emphasizing, “That’s not on any other roads, that’s just 611.”

During his research, Ruddell also found that the Easton Road corridor has adversely affected as far south as the Fitzwatertown Road area with back-ups and lane confusions.

Crashes and Citations

He then provided data on the number of accidents, Upper Moreland Police citations and insurance companies affected by the crashes in the corridor. The data collected for crashes, both reportable and non-reportable (no injuries or removal of vehicles), has a time frame from January 2008 – February 2012. The data on police citations comes from 2011.

According to Ruddell, of the 4,780 crashes township-wide, during this time-period, there were 609 total crashes along the Easton Road corridor. This means 13-percent of all township crashes occur in a span of less than a mile.

Furthermore, 206 of the crashes are rear-end crashes while 135 were angle (side-swipe) crashes. Other crashes involved fixed objects, including telephone poles or road debris.

Traffic violations included 3111(a) (such as making an illegal turn), red light violations and divided highway violations (driving on wrong side of road). Ruddell reported that one of the most concentrated intersections for citations in 2011 were found at the intersection of Easton and Mill and Sycamore roads with 303 citations given last year.

Causes

According to Ruddell, weather does not play a significant role in the large count of accidents and traffic citations along the Easton Road corridor. He does provide three reasons:

• Congestion – Ruddell cites this as the major determined contributing factor.

• Aggressive Driving – He said that motorists sometimes travel the outer lane in order to “jump” onto the Turnpike entrance at the last minute.

• Other – Not knowing the area well enough to obey traffic lanes and flows.

Recommendations

Ruddell also provided several recommendations to the committee. He noted, for the sake of argument, that the recommendations precluded consideration for monetary restraints.

• Add Second Lane – Add a second lane exiting southbound from the Turnpike.

• Slip Ramp – Done at Fort Washington and in Philadelphia (Bensalem exit).

• Additional Signage – For the Turnpike entrance, lane direction, and “don’t block the box,” signage.

• Re-striping Easton Road, turning dotted lines to solid ones, especially by southbound Sycamore Road.

• Share-ride Program – Ruddell said this was unlikely, but would relieve congestion.

He said that the township could also work with insurance companies, seeking grants. He also recommended that the traffic counts get updated.

According to township manager David Dodies, the board of commissioners will have the opportunity to review some of this data with the Turnpike Commission, who is expected to make a presentation about increasing the exit ramp at next week’s full board meeting.

“They want to increase the length of the ramp so they can get more cars off the Turnpike, but where are they going to go – 611,” Spearing said during the committee meeting.

Ward 3 commissioner, Donna Parsell, who is also the chairperson for the committee, said that Ruddell’s report will be sent to state representative Tom Murt (R-152) and state senator Stewart Greenleaf (R-12) for their considerations.

Upper Moreland Police Chief Thomas Nestel is expected to provide any updates to the traffic report at next month’s committee meeting.