Community Corner

Fewer Accidents Happening on Vanadium Road

But some homeowners are complaining about a "howling" noise after the county milled the road surface to produce more friction.

The grinding down of near Kirwan Heights has substantially decreased the number of crashes in that area.

said accidents on Vanadium near the train tunnel have “dropped 95 percent, at least” since the county’s public works department milled the surface in October.

“Since they fixed that area, I can’t think of a major (accident),” Secreet said. “It fixed the problem (which) had something to do with the pavement.”

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More than 60 crashes happened in that area last year, Secreet said, because of what he thinks was slick asphalt laid down in late 2009 by the Allegheny County public works department. The grinding of the surface has roughed it up enough to apparently prevent it from becoming slick when moderately wet.

“That, in essence, gave us a higher friction resistance,” said Bernie Rossman, who is deputy director of Allegheny County Public Works Department. “I haven’t heard of any accident reports, so I’m happy with the response in quick fashion.”

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But that solution also has created problems for homeowners living near the area. Some homeowners along the stretch of road are reporting a “howling” sound of rolling tires on the grated road.

Rossman apologized for the noise, but said there weren’t very many other options.

“I have a funny feeling I’m going to make no one happy no matter what we do,” Rossman said. “We were very proactive. We milled it before the winter. All I can do is apologize to someone because of the noise, but over time that will diminish because of wear.”

He added that he drove on the road the other day and it appeared to “performing quite well.”

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