Westmoreland County family pleads with PennDOT to fix exit ramp that has led to crashes into their home
Some people live in big houses, some live in small houses, but one local family could easily say that they live in the crash house.
From sunup to sundown, they hear the squealing of brakes as cars continue to lose control while maneuvering a nearby highway exit ramp - sending vehicles flying into their front yard.
That's why they called KDKA-TV to find out if there is more that could be done.
The exit ramp is the start of what the family refers to as "the cattle chute," except it's not cows ending up in their yard; it's wrecked cars.
A shattered stone wall and an excavator now sit in the front yard of Kristie Harvey's home. Half for cleanup, half for protection.
"We've had probably 18 or 19 crashes here since 2004," she said.
Her camera has recorded all of them, including near-misses like an out-of-control van flying airborne across the grassy divider between the house and Route 30. There have been crashes into the wall complete with smoke and fire, crashes into the telephone pole, or crashes straight into the bed of her husband's truck.
"When they get to the end, they're like, 'Oh my gosh, it's a 90-degree turn,' and they try to overcompensate, and they're either in the triangle or in the wall," Harvey said. "We've had people here; we've had people in the yard; somebody took out the porch once."
Harvey said all these out-of-control drivers are flying off the Cedar Street exit ramp after they exit westbound Route 30. Despite new 15-mile-per-hour signs, the exit essentially ends in a near-90-degree turn, right in front of her house.
"We hoped that the new sign would deter traffic to say, 'Hey, slow down, it's a 90-degree turn,'" she said. "It's 15 miles an hour, none of that."
We asked PennDOT what more can be done to deter drivers from being the next ones to crash into the house.
PennDOT did install a massive sign that emphasizes the exit ramp's speed limit, and even put down a high-friction coating with arrows on the pavement.
It's not made much of a difference, with two more crashes this week alone.
"It's getting to the point where it is just 100% emotionally draining because when it does happen, especially twice in one week, you feel so defeated," Harvey said.
Now, Harvey wants PennDOT to install guardrails, but PennDOT said the ramp is not long enough, so they are unable to fit one with the appropriate end pieces. Instead, PennDOT said they will install seven white delineators along the bend - the tall, bright, white plastic posts meant to guide drivers.
"Ultimately, we live here," Harvey said. "Nobody sees it as we see it, nobody hears the middle of the night or early in the morning screech of the tire, and then you're like, you wait for the boom."
