You are driving late at night in Lancaster, PA, and then all of a sudden, you end up in a car crash with nothing around but farm land. What exactly happened? One major cause could be that the roads were poorly constructed and had design flaws.
One of the main reasons Lancaster roads are chaotic is that the county is understaffed with workers. Pam Dingman, a Lancaster County engineer, said, “The shortage is already causing setbacks, and you can only work people for so long.” But what matters to Pam most is the matter of a catastrophic event. The key takeaways from this problem are that the county is understaffed, which is causing setbacks, delaying projects, and raising concerns about road safety.
Another reason the roads are unsafe was that most roads and intersections have design flaws and are poorly constructed. According to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation, in Pennsylvania pavement quality scores average around 37th or 39th, and bridges are mostly structurally deficient, ranking 45th. On safety, Pennsylvania does relatively well with 20th place in urban fatality rates and 12th in rural fatality rates. But, traffic congestion remains a big challenge, ranking 42nd out of 50 states, with drivers wasting 47 hours stuck in traffic annually. This shows that not only is the quantity of workers down, but also the quality of the work is as well.
Now here comes the solutions to these problems and how we can prevent many more crashes in the future. To fix understaffing, the state could add benefits to the job, for instance, maybe upskill for better pay or perks like flexible scheduling to get people to think about the job more.
Using cheaper methods could free up money for more hiring. According to Caernarvon Township Roadmaster and Supervisor, Terry Martin, “The oil and chipping is cheaper than paving the roads, which would cost $500,000.” He then expresses how much easier and cheaper it is to do the oil and chip method than paving the roads.
Residents of Lancaster County should be aware of the roads and how fatal they can be, and raise awareness in others to stay safe on the roads.
Lancaster County Roads are Unsafe
By Logan Bare ‘27
You are driving late at night in Lancaster, PA, and then all of a sudden, you end up in a car crash with nothing around but farm land. What exactly happened? One major cause could be that the roads were poorly constructed and had design flaws.
One of the main reasons Lancaster roads are chaotic is that the county is understaffed with workers. Pam Dingman, a Lancaster County engineer, said, “The shortage is already causing setbacks, and you can only work people for so long.” But what matters to Pam most is the matter of a catastrophic event. The key takeaways from this problem are that the county is understaffed, which is causing setbacks, delaying projects, and raising concerns about road safety.
Another reason the roads are unsafe was that most roads and intersections have design flaws and are poorly constructed. According to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation, in Pennsylvania pavement quality scores average around 37th or 39th, and bridges are mostly structurally deficient, ranking 45th. On safety, Pennsylvania does relatively well with 20th place in urban fatality rates and 12th in rural fatality rates. But, traffic congestion remains a big challenge, ranking 42nd out of 50 states, with drivers wasting 47 hours stuck in traffic annually. This shows that not only is the quantity of workers down, but also the quality of the work is as well.
Now here comes the solutions to these problems and how we can prevent many more crashes in the future. To fix understaffing, the state could add benefits to the job, for instance, maybe upskill for better pay or perks like flexible scheduling to get people to think about the job more.
Using cheaper methods could free up money for more hiring. According to Caernarvon Township Roadmaster and Supervisor, Terry Martin, “The oil and chipping is cheaper than paving the roads, which would cost $500,000.” He then expresses how much easier and cheaper it is to do the oil and chip method than paving the roads.
Residents of Lancaster County should be aware of the roads and how fatal they can be, and raise awareness in others to stay safe on the roads.
Sources:
2. Lancaster County working to protect drivers through ‘Safe Roads for All’ program
3. https://visionzerolancaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Lancaster-Vision-Zero-Action-Plan-Web.pdf
4. https://www.klkntv.com/lancaster-county-engineer-is-down-9-workers-says-hiring-freeze-is-delaying-road-projects
5. https://reason.org/highway-report/28th-annual-highway-report/pennsylvania/#:~:text=Pennsylvania’s%20highway%20system%20ranks%2037th,12th%20in%20rural%20fatality%20rate.