‘No Turn on Red’ Signs Green-Lit by Council

Hellertown Borough Council voted 5-1 Monday night to authorize a traffic study that should pave the way for “No Turn on Red” signs to be installed on three sides of a busy downtown intersection where right turns on red are currently permitted.

The decision came after borough engineer Bryan Smith, of Barry Isett and Associates, said a recent evaluation of the intersection of Main and Water streets concluded that it meets one of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s requirements for installation of a No Turn on Red restriction, which is a “lack of space.”

That lack of space was discussed by council earlier this month, after local motorists commented on the Saucon Source Facebook page about the hazard presented by southbound traffic on Main Street turning right (west) onto Water Street.

Hellertown police chief Robert Shupp said at the time that because of the feedback, he looked at the turning movements of vehicles heading in that direction and concluded that “you effectively cannot make that turn without going into their lane.”

At Monday’s meeting, he recommended that a “No Turn on Red” sign be installed on the other sides of the intersection that currently aren’t signed that way, telling council, “I think there’s more concern from the residents of the turns than there is from anybody saying ‘we should be able to make that turn.’”

In spite of that–and Shupp’s sharing of a video on his phone that he said showed a tractor-trailer nearly causing a collision as it made the turn from Main onto Water–one councilman voted against the motion to move forward with the study.

James Hill said “it’s up to the driver to make sure they’re able to safely make the turn on red.”

“I don’t think it’s necessary,” he said of the “No Turn on Red” sign.

The money for the traffic study and adjustments that will need to be made to the signal plan for the intersection–which Smith said will cost about $1300–is in the borough’s general fund budget, borough manager Cathy Hartranft told council.

Smith declined to provide a specific timeframe for the work to be done, but said the PennDOT department that approves the installation of “No Turn on Red” signs typically works pretty quickly.

Both Main Street and Water Street are state roads.

Although green turning arrows were also discussed by council at its meeting earlier this month, Smith said his firm’s evaluation of the intersection found it does not meet the necessary requirement for their installation.

“Unfortunately we don’t have the traffic volume that really warrants implementing those (turning arrrows) at this time,” he said.

Smith explained that PennDOT requires two left-hand movements at every light cycle for at least two continuous hours.

Some of the turning movements at the intersection “were close,” but there was not enough turning to meet the requirement, he said.