Politics & Government
Speed Limits on Buckingham Roads at Issue
The township hired an engineer to recommend speed limits on some of its heaviest traveled roads.
Buckingham supervisors recently approved spending $2,475 for a traffic study of seven township roads.
Pennoni Associates Inc. of Doylestown earned the job, coming in at the lowest bid.
The purpose is to determine speed limits for township roads.
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“As the community changes, traffic patterns change,” said township engineer Dan Gray of Knight Engineering Inc. “It’s always a good time to evaluate things as you move on.”
The township will provide the consultants with traffic data, including accident information and speed counts.
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The firm would then review the information and recommend speed limits for the roads.
"Technically, you have to have traffic studies on the roads to justify the speed limits," supervisors' chairman Jon Forest said after the meeting.
The first batch of roads up for review are Ash, Church, Church School, Holicong, Lower Mountain and Smoke roads, as well as Long Lane. Only certain sections of the longer roads will be studied.
“The plan is to do all of the roads in the township,” said township manager Dana Cozza. “These are some of the heaviest traveled, cut-through roads.”
has 90 miles of roadways.
When the study on these seven is done, township officials will bid out the next handful of roads to be studied. They estimate it might take up to three years to finish evaluating all of the major arteries in the township.
Roads in housing developments would not be included in the overall comprehensive evaluation, said Cozza. Speed limits on those are set at 25 miles per hour, a figure which won't change.
In a related traffic matter, drivers using Anderson Road as a throughway will now need to find another route.
Workers are replacing pipes along the road adjacent to Central Bucks East High School. To keep work running smoothly, the road will be closed to through traffic during daytime hours. It will be open to residents and emergency vehicles.
The closures are scheduled to occur in the next two weeks, said Gray.
The construction work should take about a month to finish, he said.
A finished, top layer will be placed on the roadway sometime during the summer.
