04/06/2006
PennDOT agrees to reduction in Route 23 speed limit
Barbara Worthington , Special to The Mercury

SOUTH COVENTRY -- Township supervisors were rewarded for their persistence when state officials recently agreed to reduce the speed limit on Route 23 through the township.
The supervisors have been lobbying for the reduced speed limit for more than six months.

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When the request first produced a negative response from PennDOT, supervisors, with the help of state Sen. John Rafferty, R-44th, and state Rep. Curt Schroder, R-155th, asked the agency to reconsider the findings of traffic studies conducted on three portions of Route 23 that transect the township.

In a letter to South Coventry officials dated March 24, Louis Belmonte, district traffic engineer for PennDOT, indicated that several changes would be made to the speed limit on Route 23.

PennDOT recommended posting a 40 mph speed limit beginning at Daisy Point Road and going east to the South Coventry/East Vincent line. The new posting would reduce a portion of the 55 mph speed limit west of Route 100 by 15 mph, increase the 35 mph speed limit by 5 mph for a total distance of less than 1,800 feet, and lower the 50 mph speed limit east of Route 100 by 10 mph.

Belmonte further indicated in his letter that the unposted speed limit between the Warwick/South Coventry township line and Daisy Point Road will not be reduced.

"We believe this proposal addresses the concerns noted in your letter and represents a prudent and consistent posting of Ridge Road in this area," the letter read.

If South Coventry Township officials accept the proposal, PennDOT will issue a speed limit permit and install the approved signs, according to Belmonte’s letter.

Millie Donnell, vice chairwoman of the township’s Board of Supervisors, said she will contact PennDOT to express the township’s appreciation for the proposed changes and to affirm the supervisors’ agreement with modifications to the Route 23 speed limits.

"This will make the speed limit more consistent on (Route) 23," Donnell stated, noting her satisfaction with PennDOT’s willingness to "take another look at Route 23."

With the anticipated changes to the Route 23 speed limits within the township, "there won’t be the variations," she said.