BLAKELY, Pa. — Traffic is flowing safely through Blakely after too many 'close calls' and complaints at the intersection of Main and Hospital streets.
Borough Manager Chris Paone says the intersection has been a problem for years.
“It's a very busy intersection. And if you're not familiar with it, you're either cutting in front of somebody having a close call or an accident, which you don't want to happen. Or people are sitting there because they don't know if they should sit there or not,” says Paone.
Even the most veteran drivers in the area agree. Pat Klatch of Jessup says she’s been driving through that intersection for more than 70 years.
“It's very confusing because when both sides have a green light, you think you can go,” said Klatch, “but the other person can also.”
Blakely Police Chief Guy Salerno says a lot of those close calls came from drivers on Main Street thinking they had the right away when, in fact, they do not.
“Unfortunately, the way the intersection is, it's a cross intersection, and they don't have the right away. They're actually making a right-hand turn, and they don't realize it,” says Salerno.
And while Blakely officials say they did everything they could to fix the problem themselves, it was out of their hands, and instead, they needed PennDOT approval to change the signals.
“We made sure the roads were painted with arrows. We had yield signs and the signs we could have. But you're limited by what the signal does until you can actually change it,” added the manager.
So, Paone sat down with Salerno to figure out the new flow of traffic together before PennDOT gave it the green light.
“Hospital Street will now be at a red. While the other interchanges will have green. When Hospital has a green light, everyone else will be red. So there won't be any cross traffic issue,” explains Paone.
And after years of waiting, the $20,000 in changes are now shining bright at the intersection.
Borough officials say it should immediately clear up confusion.
“Red light means stop, green light means go, so as long as it's programmed the way it is right now, I don't think we're going to have any issues,” added the Chief.
Their work isn't done just yet, borough officials hope to update the intersections at Keystone and Main streets and Keystone and Gino Merli Drive.
Check out WNEP’s YouTube channel.