Arona Road traffic and crashes have Westmoreland County residents concerned
GREENSBURG, Pa. (KDKA) — Arona Road in Westmoreland County isn't very long, but it's beginning to get a reputation as a dangerous road for those living and traveling along it.
The road is all of 5.1 miles long, and Danny Rosenberry knows all about its perils.
"It's terrible," Rosenberry said.
Rosenberry's busy New Stanton tire business and home are on Arona Road.
"I've probably been here 30 years and seen at least a dozen wrecks," he said.
In fact, one of the most recent was a fatal head-on collision on Sept. 21 that took the life of a 73-year-old woman from Smock, Pennsylvania.
"There are a lot of trucks, more trucks now than there ever was," Rosenberry said.
There are two possible reasons for that. First, truckers and other motorists trying to avoid the Pennsylvania Turnpike toll as Arona Road parallels the Pennsylvania Turnpike between New Stanton and Irwin, plus heavy traffic to and from the future Amazon warehouse site on Arona Road.
"It's just out of hand," Rosenberry said.
And while there've been five fatal crashes in the last half-decade along Arona Road and potentially more traffic, state police say they patrol the road on a regular basis.
"We will go to those areas to do enforcement for speed, stop signs at an intersection, whatever the violation seems to be happening more often," trooper Stephen Limani said.
"The number one problem we have is people are not obeying the posted speed limit signs," he added.
