SLIPPERY ROCK — The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation plans to complete a speed study on a dangerous intersection along Route 8.

Supervisor Paul Dickey said during the Slippery Rock supervisors’ meeting Monday evening that PennDOT responded eight days after the supervisors requested a study of a stretch of Route 8, including the Branchton Road intersection, on Oct. 11.

According to the letter, PennDOT expects to complete an engineering report, a study of the roadway, a parking and pedestrian study, and an analysis of reported accidents in addition to the speed study.

The letter also said officials expect results to be reported this month.

“They’ve initiated all the extra stuff,” Dickey said. “It’s their intersection. They should be doing this stuff.”

A blinker light is currently used to regulate traffic at the intersection, as well as painted lines that simulate smaller lanes and blinking stop signs along Branchton Road.

In September, the intersection was the site of a fatal crash between a motorcycle and a passenger vehicle. The motorcyclist and his passenger died as a result of the crash.

That same month, another motorcycle rider was hospitalized following a crash at the intersection.

The crashes were the latest in a series of lethal and serious crashes at the intersection.

According to previous reports, the blinker light was installed shortly after a 2003 crash. In that incident, a North Carolina family of five was killed when a truck driver ignored a stop sign and collided with the family’s vehicle.

Following the incident, supervisors had several meetings into 2004 regarding the intersection, with many residents in attendance. Out of concern for the community’s safety, 660 residents signed a petition for a traffic light to be installed.

PennDOT representatives investigated possible intersection improvements and installed the blinker light in January 2004, despite their evaluation saying that a light was unnecessary.

A traffic light was not installed due to high cost, officials said.