Township Supervisors Seek Solution to Street Road Traffic

For anybody who has tried to navigate Street Road in the middle of the afternoon, it is no secret that the traffic situation is almost unbearable. It may be hard to believe, but in a few weeks, the traffic is going to get even worse.

As previously reported, the Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority has begun a six-month project that will install a new transmission pipe in a seven mile stretch of County Line Road, beginning at Valley Road in Warminster and ending at Pine Road in Lower Southampton.

The project has been broken up into two separate contracts. The first section is located between Valley and Centennial roads, with work scheduled to take place between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. The Hatboro Borough Council recently refused an exception to its noise pollution ordinance, preventing crews from performing overnight work. The five lane road will be reduced to one lane in each direction.

The second contract will run between Centennial Road and Pine Road, with work performed between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. This section includes not only reduced lanes, but a complete closure of County Line Road between Second Street Pike and Pine.

Daily commuters will have to decide if they want to brave the restricted road, or try their luck with another route. The prime alternative is most likely Street Road, although Bristol Road and Byberry Road could also be considered viable routes.

There's really no getting around the fact that Street Road traffic for the next few months will be frustrating to maneuver, but the township administration and its traffic engineers are working to alleviate it where they can.

One area of interest is the section of traffic lights between Jacksonville and Newtown roads. Phil Wursta, township traffic engineer, explained to the board of supervisors last week that PennDOT required Costco to make road improvements as part of the new store's construction. The company decided to meet the request by installing InSync, a traffic management program manufactured by Rhyhtm Engineering that monitors car volume and coordinates the timing based on time of day and demand.

Tom Cooper, a representative from Rhythm Engineering, recognized that since its installation, the timing has been spotty, at best. Supervisor Leo Quinn pointed out numerous instances where cars waiting at northbound Jacksonville Road have been passed over, creating a large backup past the Walmart light.

Wursta and Cooper said that they will continue improving the timing progression, but Wursta told the supervisors that if they decide InSync is not working, they can have it removed and replaced with something else.