PennDOT District Spokesman James May told Newswatch 16 that contractors were busy repairing damaged guiderails on Wednesday after seven crashes in the past two weeks.
"We've put message boards at the bottom of the road here and at the top, urging motorists to slow down. We tested the friction on the road to make sure it was good and it was,” said May. “Essentially what we found was, it was just an issue of speeding. Cars were going in excess of 60, 65, 75 miles an hour down this road that is posted at 45 miles an hour."
May said 115 crashes were reported on the busy stretch of Route 309 from 2007 through 2011.
Chris Demshock told Newswatch 16 that even with flashing lights and traffic cones, some drivers don’t slow down while he and other contractors work to replace mangled guiderails.
"It's scary knowing that people are driving that fast on this kind of road,” said Demshock. "We're out here quite often around this area. It's a pretty bad area. We're out probably once every other week fixing the guardrail.”
May urged drivers to slow down on Route 309 in the Mountain Top area and said PennDOT is working with Fairview Township police to beef up patrols.