Four-way stop approved for Callowhill and 7th streets

Perkasie Borough Council voted 8-0 on Jan. 7 to move ahead with creating a four-way stop at the intersection of Callowhill and 7th streets.

Weather permitting, the additional stop signs with blinking lights to alert travelers, should be installed this week, Perkasie officials said.

Councilman Matt Aigeldinger did not attend the meeting.

The intersection was deemed worthy of the four-way stop signage after years of accidents there. Both roads are maintained by Perkasie Borough.

Borough Manager Andrea Coaxum said accidents during the past several years put the intersection on official’s radar. “We’ve been discussing this since 2013,” Coaxum said.

Speed limits at the intersection will remain: 25 mph from Market Street to Callowhill in both directions; 35 mph from Callowhhill Street to Blooming Glen in both directions.

Coaxum said other changes, such as new pavement markets at the intersection, would be addressed when the stop sign additions are completed.

The road pavement markings would be made when weather permits.

Coaxum said the latest serious accident there involved a car flipped over at the intersection on June 11.

She said the new stop signs were prompted by a resident’s complaints and that a traffic study completed by and funded through a PennDOT Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) program free of charge, which also provided data to justify the four-way stop sign.

“It was the reportable and unreportable accidents that satisfied the warrants [criteria] for the four-way stop,” Coaxum said.

“Based on the crash data, a multi-way stop would likely improve operations, the potential pedestrian volumes with Guth Elementary School so close and the observations of the engineer and public works director while on site, all aided in the recommendation to borough council.”