Traffic Engineers Seek Community Input for Study

by Jonathan Weaver

Approximately 20 local business, non-profit and Kittanning community leaders helped engineers plan for a 2013 transportation study last night.

At the first of many Community Stakeholder Committee Meetings, the leaders split up into five groups and were asked to plot on Borough maps the places they walked or drove the most, as well as their sections of town of most concern, with colored stickers. Blue dots signified where local leaders lived, worked and parked regularly, yellow dots signified where they walked the most, green dots signified to driving destinations and red dots represented traffic or walking concerns.

Whitman, Requardt and Associates, LLP architects also received crash data from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, but wanted data from local residents before using money from a $300,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Community Transportation Initiative for the traffic study.

The study was approved by County Commissioners in January 2011.

Project Manager Scott Thompson-Graves told leaders the study’s primary purpose.

“We’re looking at how to improve the connections between people and the places they travel to,” Thompson-Graves said.

Senate Engineers will also receive community input by surveying residents during various portions of the week.

While one map had three community leaders concerned with the Water Street/Butler Road intersection once drivers cross the Kittanning Citizen’s Bridge, another group was concerned with intersections along Oak Avenue on the edge of Downtown Kittanning.

Thompson-Graves said there were many similar opinions by local leaders Thursday.

“Based on the preliminary feedback, there were a lot of consistencies. It seems like the top destinations are Downtown, as well as the grocery store (Sprankle’s Market on North McKean Street). It seems like the top destinations also pretty-much match with the top areas of concern, Thompson-Graves said.

“(The feedback) is going to go a long way to help us understand where people travel – where you go to and come from – and park,” he added.

However, one member said there many be varying opinions by public residents at their input meeting May 22.

While County Commissioners David Battaglia, Rich Fink and Bob Bower were unable to attend, they will also be invited to the public meeting.

Public residents are encouraged to attend a public meeting about such study from 6-8PM May 22 in the Armstrong County Commissioners’ Conference Room within the Administration Building beside the County Courthouse. Residents needing special assistance are asked to contact Community Development Division Director Jennifer Bellas at the County Planning and Development office at 724-543-3223.