Safety changes coming to Dravosburg intersection after crash that killed 15-year-old girl

DRAVOSBURG, Pa. — People in Dravosburg were thrilled to learn a new traffic light is coming to the intersection of Richland Avenue at 5th Street.

This comes following the Sept. 20 death of Serra Catholic student Samantha Kalkbrenner, 15, whose school van was hit just blocks from her home at the intersection of Richland Avenue and 3rd Street.

“Yes! I literally said that they should put a traffic light where the pizza shop is,” said Shenerra Campbell, who lives around the corner.

“I drive here every day and sometimes you take your life in your hands going out of the parking lot,” added Lee Donaldson, who works right by where the light is set to be installed.

The Turnpike Commission and PennDOT announced plans Tuesday to install the new light by May.

“It’s a dangerous stretch of road, just the topography and the geography and the way that it’s laid out, so we wanted to address that as much as we can,” said State Rep. Nick Pisciottano, who represents Dravosburg.

He’s been working with the borough, Allegheny County, and the state on safety enhancements.

He says the light at 5th and Richland was already in the works as part of the Turnpike Commission’s Mon-Fayette Expressway Expansion project, but Kalkbrenner’s tragic death accelerated those plans in an effort to break up steady traffic and slow speeding drivers.

“It’s the Indy 500 on this street, cars fly up there all the time, it’s like they race,” Donaldson said.

Since Kalkbrenner was killed, lefthand turns onto Richland Avenue have also been outlawed.

But neighbors say not everyone is paying attention to the new signs.

“Most people come to the mini-mart and they just come out here and make the left to get on the bridge instead of going back into the neighborhood and going all the way around,” Campbell said.

According to Pisciottano, Allegheny County is also in the process of extending the barrier in the middle of Richland Avenue to make it physically impossible to make the now illegal left turns.

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