After Near-Miss, Levittown Family Asks For Help With Dangerous Stretch Of Road

A sign for Thornridge Drive in Levittown.

After at least 10 crashes outside her home, a Falls Township resident is urging officials to address traffic safety concerns on a portion of Thornridge Drive in Levittown.

Margaret Marino told the Falls Township Board of Supervisors on Monday night that the upper section of Thornridge Drive, which starts new Tanglewood Lane, has four sharp bends that make it difficult for drivers to see ahead and pull out of side streets.

The curves, according to Marino, make it most difficult for drivers to see at the intersection with three side streets: Teaberry, Twin Leaf, and Thinbark lanes.

A map showing the area of concern. Credit: Google Maps

Marino, who has lived at her family’s home for 67 years, has raised concerns with the township since 2014.

“The bottom line is we never met the criteria for traffic calming solutions to be implemented since the last reportable accident,” Marino said.

Marino described the Aug. 10 crash in which a vehicle jumped the curb, crossed a neighbor’s sidewalk and driveway, and came to a stop on their lawn, narrowly missing her grandchildren who were playing outside.

“My daughter had just called the kids up who were roller skating and riding bikes to have Slurpees or smoothies,” Marino said. “It was only by the hand of God that this accident” didn’t result in injuries.

Marino’s daughter, Nicole Paschke, said drivers use the road “like a freeway due to the wide roads and they maintain their speed around the tight, narrow blind bends.”

Paschke, who also spoke at the meeting, said her family has seen parked cars towed and totaled, trees hit, and pedestrians nearly killed.

Falls Township Supervisor Chairperson Jeff Dence said the supervisors learned of the issue two weeks ago and directed Township Manager John Shepard to work with police Chief Nelson Whitney and a traffic engineer to find solutions.

“The police in Pennsylvania can’t use radar. Local police can’t, only the state police can,” Dence said. “To be able to pull somebody over, you have to be driving the same speed they are.”

A PA State Trooper using a radar gun to monitor traffic. File photo

“I think if we could run local radar, people knew we could be anywhere running radar at the local level,” Shepard said. “We just don’t have that tool in our toolkit.”

The township manager said he visited the road to assess the situation and can understand the concerns.

Shepard, who recently started his job, explained that he wants to find the right solution instead of rushing into something that will prove ineffective.

“I don’t want to rush into something and just do something for the sake of doing something,” Shepard said. “I think we should figure out what we believe is the best solution and see if we can implement it.”

The entire two-mile stretch of Thornridge Drive has a 25 mph speed limit with 10 tight bends.

Paschke suggested lowering the speed limit around the bends to 10 to 15 mph.

Dence said lowering the speed limit might not be effective as drivers often ignore current limits. He suggested striping the street, which can make roads appear narrower and slow traffic, and referenced PennDOT’s traffic calming handbook.

The longtime supervisor pointed to PennDOT’s traffic calming handbook, which includes striping as one of the best solutions. He mentioned painting chevrons on the street as a possibility.

“We had another road in the township, Austin Drive, which is really bad with speeding. When we came up with a solution, it was to narrow it by striping both sides and putting chevrons here and there,” Dence said.

However, he noted, that residents on Austin Drive rejected the striping solution because they felt it would ruin the aesthetic of their street.

The police department has installed speed detection devices to collect data on Thornridge Drive.

Shepard assured the residents officials are working on solutions.

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