BEAR CREEK VILLAGE, Pa. — It doesn't matter how many signs are placed on Route 115 in Bear Creek Village telling drivers that the center lane is only for making turns and not for passing. Folks who live off any of the nine roads that intersect with Route 115 in the community say people constantly break the traffic laws here.
"We have potential head-on collisions that happen here. Definitely on a weekly basis, and you know, many weeks where it's happening on a daily basis," explained former borough council president John Parsons.
"I'm one of those who has to get in the middle or turning lane to get into the road leading to my home. And I can't tell you the number of times when my heart has actually stopped beating out of fear," Bear Creek Village Mayor Walter Mitchell added.
Local leaders tell Newswatch 16 only about 300 people live in Bear Creek Village, but thousands use this roadway every day.
"(Route) 115 is a major artery between the Wyoming Valley and the Poconos and beyond," explained Mitchell.
Local leaders say the road and its many blind spots were never meant to handle speeding and a lack of patience from drivers.
Signage has tried to help the problem, but it hasn't proven very successful. PennDOT data shows there have been at least a dozen crashes in the area since 2018.
"Whenever someone is pulling into one of those nine roadways and enters (Route) 115, the traffic coming behind them, it's just human nature they want to pull out into that center lane. Well, it's a blind center lane and when someone is trying to turn from the other direction, it really sets up for a head-on collision," said Parsons.
State lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have announced close to $500,000 in state grant money to help fix the problem, specifically at the intersection near the Bear Creek Dam.
State funds will be used to remove brush and add a right turn lane in each direction, to keep people from entering the center turn lane to pass.
"It'll help cut way down on the precariousness of trying to navigate turning in and out of our village," said Mitchell.
While residents know this won't completely stop people from breaking traffic laws here, they hope it will make Route 115 safer than it is now. There is no word on when this project will begin.