New traffic signals set to launch at Routes 286 and 380 in Murrysville

Temporary traffic signals are being installed where Route 380 and Golden Mile Highway meet, but the permanent improvements proposed for the intersection have a Murrysville family upset.

Canonsburg-based Olympus Energy is funding traffic improvements as part of its Hermes fracking well pad project, being constructed nearby on the Murrysville/Plum border.

Part of those improvements — widening the intersection of Route 380 and Logan Ferry Road to accommodate truck traffic better — are complete, and Olympus officials also proposed installing traffic signals where the roads split.

It is an odd configuration where the state route numbers do not align with the local road names. Route 380/Fairview Drive turns sharply west as it becomes Saltsburg Road through Plum, and Route 286 (which is also part of Saltsburg Road, running across the top of Murrysville) banks south and suddenly becomes Golden Mile Highway.

Near the intersection, there is a small driveway and house owned by 95-year-old Florella Silvis. Her son Jeff Silvis said he and his mother are being pressured by Olympus officials to sell a portion of the driveway and property for the intersection’s eventual permanent improvements.

“A representative from Olympus told me that ‘Murrys­ville is going to put a new intersection there one way or the other,’ and they want part of our driveway and property to do it,” Silvis told council at its May 21 meeting. “He said multiple times that Murrysville is using Olympus as a cash cow to improve the intersection.”

That angered Murrysville council President Dayne Dice.

“We as a municipality are not involved in this,” Dice said. “We agreed to take over maintenance of the traffic signal once it’s installed, but for an Olympus representative to say that is pretty asinine. Just to make it clear, if anyone comes to you and says Murrys­ville is putting pressure on you, or them, the answer is no.”

Murrysville Chief Administrator Michael Nestico confirmed the traffic light is being undertaken by Olympus, and that he directed Olympus officials to reach out to the Silvis family regarding any matters involving future work.

“What was said in those conversations, I was not privy to,” Nestico said.

Olympus officials declined comment for this story.

The traffic signal is to be operational prior to the Hermes wells going into production, Nestico said.

“From a drilling and operations standpoint, I think they’re ready to move forward, and that means getting the light installed,” he said.

The signal — which will go into operation on May 31, according to signage posted at the intersection — places much more regulation on the way traffic flows.

“With the new temporary signal, drivers headed north and east on Golden Mile Highway won’t be able to make a simple left onto Saltsburg Road,” said PennDOT District 12 Traffic Engineer David Parker. “That entrance onto the slip ramp will be barricaded and they’ll sit at a light to wait and make that left-hand turn.”

Golden Mile Highway traffic continuing down the hill on Fairview Drive/Route 380 toward the 380 Auction Warehouse will mostly be able to continue unimpeded. And for traffic turning left from Saltsburg Road onto Fairview, a series of barricades will prevent drivers from crossing into the far-right lane of continuous traffic.

The design is called a “continuous T” intersection. Parker said PennDOT recently installed a similar one at the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Route 31 interchange in Donegal.

The only time drivers headed north on Golden Mile Highway will be stopped by the light is when it is triggered by a vehicle waiting to leave the Silvis driveway.

Parker said the temporary lights will remain in place until Murrysville requests to remove them or make them permanent, which Olympus officials say they intend to do.

Dice made it clear that Murrysville officials are barely involved, apart from being the official body to make the request to PennDOT on behalf of Olympus.

“We have a role in the approval process, but for anyone to say we’re putting pressure on them is just not true,” Dice said.