A sign near the intersection of Branchton and Harmony roads welcomes passersby to Slippery Rock Township. The intersection is an accident-prone intersection that township supervisors wish to address.

SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — In hopes of minimizing accidents, officials are pursuing stop studies on two of the most troublesome intersections in the township.

Township supervisors voted unanimously at their meeting Monday afternoon, Oct. 27, to request two multiway stop studies at the intersections of Branchton and Harmony roads and Branchton Road and Route 8.

“We get a lot of wrecks where people don’t stop on Harmony Road, they run out into the traffic. Our thoughts is, if you make both people stop, you’re going to cut down the accidents tremendously. If somebody does screw up, the other person hopefully didn’t at the time. And it's the same thing on Branchton Road,” Supervisor Paul Dickey said about the intersections.

Dickey said some years ago, the township changed the stop at the intersection of Kiester and Harmony roads, which caused a reduction in crashes. However, improving traffic control at the two intersections currently being examined requires more work due to the fact that Route 8 and Branchton Road are both state roads.

In recent correspondence, PennDOT said work to update the Branchton Road and Route 8 intersection would be minimal, but “a signal is only warranted if a stop condition is warranted.”

The township’s ideal plan would see a stop sign installed for each direction of the Harmony and Branchton roads intersection and a red blinking traffic signal for each direction of the Branchton Road and Route 8 intersection.

Dickey said it is important to make sure the study is performed during the academic year so the increased traffic is represented.

“As soon as school starts, you’re going to have a bunch of accidents there, because the college kids are new to it and they’re going to run it, and it isn’t always college students, but a majority of it is.”