PITTSBURGH,None — You probably have driven on one of these roads. They are the most dangerous roads in our area.
Working with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Target 11 obtained the list of high-crash locations in our area.
Last year, we told you about the top high-crash locations in Allegheny County. The No. 1 location was Route 51, also known as Saw Mill Run Boulevard in Pittsburgh.
Now, we have expanded our search, and we have the list of the top locations outside of Allegheny County.
District 10 2008 High Crash Locations District 12 2008 High Crash Locations
Maria Spanoudakis, of Westmoreland County, travels one of the most dangerous roads nearly every day. Recently, her father was involved in a rear-end collision on the road. It's a two lane highway with drivers turning in and out of businesses, and during a five-year stretch, there were 93 crashes and three fatalities. It's Route 66 in Washington Township, Westmoreland County, at the intersection of Beaver Run Road.
"I'm always looking three or four times before I pull out," Spanoudakis told Target 11 Investigator Rick Earle.
"You have a blind spot coming over the hill," said driver Gail Altman.
Earle spent two days in area and witnessed several near misses. One driver had to slam on the brakes and narrowly avoided a collision.
Last year, Route 51 topped our list with 188 accidents. This year, we went county by county.
In Fayette County, there were 32 accidents on Route 40 near Uniontown. There were 42 accidents on Route 21, also near Uniontown, but Route 119 near Connellsville had the most accidents with 87.
In Washington County, Morganza road in Canonsburg topped the list with 47 crashes. Evans City Road had the most in Butler County with 131 crashes.
Westmoreland County had the most dangerous road outside of Allegheny County. There were 156 accidents during a five-year period along Route 30 in North Huntingdon Township between Colonial Manor Apartments and Malts Lane.
"Some of the roads are kind of blind when you make the turns. Oncoming traffic is hard to see," said motorist Calvin Sims.
Earle sat down with PennDOT engineer Robb Dean and PennDOT safety officer Jay Ofsanik. They are responsible for maintaining some of the roads on the high-crash list. They visited every site on the list.
"Regardless, even if we know driver error contributed to the crash or the accident, we also look to see if there is something we can do, you know, to make things better for the driving public. It's important to us," Ofsanik told Earle.
Target 11 also visited many of the high-crash locations, and we found improvements at many of the sites. On Route 66, PennDOT installed several signs warning drivers about turning cars and intersections. And Dean told Earle that even more improvements are on the way for that section of highway.
"We've taking steps to design a project to include turn lanes and install a traffic signal. It will be under construction this construction season, and hopefully it will eliminate these types of crashes," said Dean.
Drivers said they would welcome the addition of turning lanes and a traffic light. Construction is expected to begin this spring.
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