No progress made on proposed Route 68 traffic changes for Forward Township
FORWARD TWP — Seven months after the township initially sent a letter to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation requesting a traffic study be performed on the intersection of Evans City Road, also known as Route 68, and Old Route 68, township manager Tom Hartwig reports that no such traffic study has taken place yet.
Township supervisors reported at their meeting in June that they initially sent a letter to PennDOT in late May requesting a traffic study, which would be the first step toward the township restricting left turns from one road onto the other. Supervisors are hoping to reduce the number of accidents that take place at the intersection.
“We wanted to see if accidents could be reduced if they prohibited left turns from (Route) 68 onto Old Route 68, and from Old Route 68 onto 68,” Hartwig said at Thursday’s meeting. “And we haven’t heard back from them as to whether or not they will perform the study.”
Hartwig said that the department’s inaction is due to an internal dispute within PennDOT over whether a traffic study is even necessary.
“Some PennDOT staff thought that it warranted a study, and others were not so sure,” Hartwig said. “To the best of my knowledge, that hasn’t been resolved yet.”
It was revealed during Thursday night’s meeting that significant progress is being made on the Cashdollar sports complex which was the subject of much debate in Forward Township early last year.
“They’re proceeding with their site development, with preparing the site, with fill material that’s being brought in, and they’re preparing the site for the installation of the stormwater retention pond and stormwater facilities, and eventually the soccer fields,” Hartwig said.
“We really just started,” said John Cashdollar, who first proposed the sports complex in 2023. “It’ll be going on like this for a long time. There’s a lot to do.”
The sports complex, to be located on Watters Station Road, was given final approval by the Forward Township board of supervisors in May, despite some pushback from residents who expressed concern about the amount of traffic the complex could bring to the street.
Plans for the complex call for an outdoor, regulation-size soccer field along with three enclosed buildings, which would feature an indoor soccer field, four pickleball courts and two pole vaulting tracks.