Council Opposes Easton Road Stop Sign Request

An Easton Road resident wants stop signs installed at each intersection along his street, Hellertown Borough Manager Cathy Kichline told borough council Oct. 1.

Kichline said the resident--who was only identified at the meeting by his last name, Streitel--communicated with her via a letter in July.

In a response, Kichline said she explained to him that various initiatives have been implemented to help reduce speeding and improve pedestrian safety along the largely-residential Easton Road corridor.

One of those initiatives involves the use of an electronic speed monitoring sign, which records the speed of passing motorists and lets them know how fast they're going with large numbers displayed on a brightly lit screen.

Police Chief Robert Shupp, who has touted the effectiveness of the speed monitoring sign, said Kichline's letter to Streitel "was extremely detailed."

Kichline said that Streitel later reiterated his desire to see stop signs installed at each intersection along Easton Road.

She explained that she was bringing the matter before council for that reason.

Since Easton Road is a state road, a letter to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation requesting a traffic study would be necessary in order to purse that idea further, she said.

Council members, however, seemed to think the installation of that many stop signs would be an impractical solution to the problem of speeding in the area.

It is also unlikely that PennDOT would embrace such a proposal, especially given the fact that the speed limit along much of Easton Road was reduced to 25mph in the summer of 2011, they indicated.

A motion to oppose sending a letter about the stop sign request to PennDOT passed unanimously.

Along the length of Easton Road in the borough there are at least 10 intersections without stop signs.