Petition From Residents of Newtown Crossing Regarding Access Options to Arcadia Green 

We, the undersigned residents of Newtown Crossing, hereby request a meeting between our Homeowner’s Association representatives, Newtown Township representatives and responsible officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to discuss a decision regarding planned changes to an intersection at an entrance to our development.  We believe the planned changes will create a dangerous interchange for traffic in our community.

Newtown Crossing is a community of 623 homes in Newtown township surrounded by three other developments (Eagle Ridge, Crown Pointe and Liberty Square) that share a common entrance point at the intersection of Buck Road and Mill Pond Road.  There is a planned development, Arcadia Green, proposed for a parcel of land slightly north of our community which will consist of sixty homes.  The single access point to this planned development is a township service road intersecting Buck Road. Recently the developer applied to PennDOT for approval of an application to make changes at this intersection and offered various options.  The least preferable and most dangerous and intrusive in our view was the option approved by PennDOT.  The others were not deemed acceptable by PennDOT with minimal explanation regarding the basis.

Our HOA representatives as well as surrounding community members need to understand this decision which we feel presents a real danger to our community.  If the option of allowing a right turn only access onto the Newtown by-pass had been acceptable, that would have allowed all of the traffic from Arcadia Green to exit their development without further congestion to the Buck Road/Mill Pond Road intersection.  Likewise, the option for new signaling at Arcadia Green which would have allowed a protected left turn out of that development onto Buck Road would have avoided additional congestion, and safer access/egress for all types of vehicles.  There was no discussion or interaction with any member of the Newtown Crossing Board of Directors to explain this decision.

Permitting a U-turn at the intersection of Buck Road and Mill Pond Road, an intersection already over-burdened with traffic, especially during morning and afternoon rush hours, will surely cause accidents in the future.  The plan accepted by PennDOT provides for a vehicle exiting Arcadia Green to merge onto Buck Road and cross two lanes of traffic into a U-turn lane in less than 500 feet.  This is simply unrealistic and an invitation to repeated accidents in the future. Likewise, the turning radius provided for in this alternative appears to only allow for passenger vehicles—not trucks or other large service vehicles.  It also does not address safe access to the development from north bound Buck Rd. 

We request a meeting with officials from PennDOT and representative(s) from the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors within the next two weeks to discuss how and why this decision was made.  The Newtown Township Board of Supervisors must make a decision on the plan for development of the Arcadia Green parcel by August 31 and, as a community, we want to insure that any changes to the surrounding traffic patterns will not have a negative impact on us.  

Thank you for your attention to this concern.