Peeves to praise, roundabout comes full circle

Posted by ChaddsFordLive on May 29, 2015

With the roundabout in the background, Pocopson Township Supervisors' Chairman Barney Leonard (from left), Supervisor Georgia Brutscher, former Supervisor Steve Conary, and Paul Linahan, the project manager, display the plaque from the Delaware Valley section of the American Society of Highway Engineers.

If sitting and watching traffic doesn’t sound like fun, then you probably weren’t involved in the construction of the roundabout in Pocopson Township – a process fraught with angst, delays, and complaints.

The plaque from the Delaware Valley section of the American Society of Highway Engineers recognizes the Pocopson roundabout as the 2014 Project of the Year.

Admittedly, the officials who gathered on Friday, May 29, on a hillside overlooking the intersection of Route 52 (Lenape Road), Wawaset Road, and Lenape Unionville Road, did not expect to be entertained. But the vantage point afforded an opportunity to witness first-hand how motorists are forced to slow down, producing a welcome traffic-calming effect that has generated positive reviews from residents as well as outsiders.

In fact, it was the latter that prompted Friday’s celebratory roundabout rendezvous. Paul Linahan, the project manager from Gennett Fleming, Inc., presented two current and one former township supervisor with a plaque from the Delaware Valley section of the American Society of Highway Engineers (ASHE), which deemed the roundabout the best project under $10 million in the five-county Philadelphia area.

Linahan explained that the $2.2 million initiative represented the first roundabout constructed in southeast Pennsylvania by PennDOT, primarily with federal funds. The handful of other regional roundabouts resulted from private development.

A drawing shows the configuration of the roads before the roundabout.

He said research has shown that roundabouts improve safety by reducing speeds. “We will see more of them” in the future, he predicted.

Supervisor Georgia Brutscher said she was disappointed that Supervisor Ricki Stumpo was unable to attend the award ceremony because she was one of the people who fielded the bulk of the complaints, mainly over the detours that the project created for nearly a year. The construction began in January 2014 and concluded in December.

Supervisors’ Chairman Barney Leonard said the plaque would be hung in the township building. As he and the others observed drivers' negotiating the roundabout, they expressed surprise that it was fascinating to watch.

Would the minivan yield to the subcompact? Would the tractor-trailer slow down sufficiently so that it didn’t need to utilize the “truck apron,” the colored concrete surrounding the island?

“This could become the new entertainment in Pocopson,” Leonard joked as the truck driver skillfully turned onto Wawaset Road.

But the conditions that necessitated the new intersection were no laughing matter. Steve Conary, a former supervisor, said the monitoring that preceded construction showed that some drivers traveled through the complex intersection at speeds up to 70 mph. Brutscher added that at least two fatalities had occurred there.

Conary said that when the county expanded the nearby prison and added the juvenile detention center, the increased traffic made the improvements to the intersection critical.

The Pocopson Township supervisors say that complaints during construction have been replaced by praise since the roundabout's completion.

The township, in cooperation with PennDOT, the Chester County Planning Commission, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), opted for a roundabout. According to federal statistics, roundabouts have produced a 35 percent reduction in overall crashes.

Brutscher said that another benefit occurred when PennDOT took advantage of the Route 52 closure to make improvements to the existing arch bridge over Pocopson Creek.

In recognizing the project, ASHE cited improved safety and noted that the “project set the bar for signing, safety, and maintenance responsibilities for future roundabout projects …”

Brutscher, who noted that the intersection was the only one in the township that ever received a failing grade in a traffic study, said it’s been gratifying to see the results of its reconstruction.

“We’ve had nothing but rave reviews; it moves traffic efficiently, and it’s a traffic-calmer,” she said, adding that it even looks better than it did before.

The island features native, low-maintenance plants and lantern-style lights that are not the standard PennDOT “cobra-head” style.

“That was a special request” to PennDOT, said Brutscher, urging everyone to drive through the roundabout at night. “It’s lovely. The light is very soft but very effective.”