For pedestrians, crossing Washington Avenue at Bower Hill Road can be a harrowing experience.
Bridgeville resident Anthony Mastrean says that he’s nearly been hit by cars at least a dozen times while using those crosswalks. Sometimes, vehicles have come so close that he could touch them.
“My wife has almost been hit,” he told council earlier this month. “Her mother has almost been hit. I had to wait three light cycles with a baby in a stroller for traffic to stop taking the turn while I had the walk sign.”
Although there are pedestrian signals at the intersection, getting the “walk” light doesn’t help when the drivers of oncoming vehicles from Bower Hill Road are eager to make a right or left turn before they get stuck at the next red light. It’s also a fairly long crosswalk in an area without a lot of foot traffic, so drivers may not be as on-guard for pedestrians as they should be.
Mayor Pat DeBlasio suggested that the borough look into moving the crosswalks further up and down Washington Avenue, where drivers will have already made their turns will more easily see pedestrians.
Changing the timing of the traffic signals could also help, said borough engineer Joe Sites. Keeping all traffic at a full stop while the “walk” signal flashes would definitely mean less close encounters between cars and pedestrians, but it could also cause a major traffic disruption at an already very busy intersection.