The growth along the Benner Pike near Bellefonte is prompting some changes in traffic patterns.
During the Aug. 1 Centre County Board of Commissioners meeting, the BOC approved resolution No. 12 of 2023, which transfers a portion of the land owned by Centre County to Benner Township as part of the improvements to Rishel Hill Road.
“The Benner Pike corridor has been experiencing a period of growth, and with that growth comes a need to accommodate that traffic,” said county administrator John Franek. “A recent traffic study has identified the need for a dedicated right-turn lane on Rishel Hill Road where it intersects with the Benner Pike.”
Franek explained that to develop the lane, a small piece of county-owned property is needed.
“The existing township roadway is not wide enough to accommodate the warranted right-turn lane, so a roughly 1,000-square-foot sliver of county-owned property is needed to build the additional lane,” Franek said.
The resolution gives Benner Township the necessary approval to proceed with the land transfer.
Chair Mark Higgins explained the need for a dedicated turning lane.
“There’s currently two lanes of traffic. In the near future, there are going to be three — a dedicated left-turn lane, a dedicated straight lane … and a dedicated right-hand turn lane onto the Benner Pike,” Higgins said.
Commissioner Amber Concepcion agreed with the need for a dedicated right-hand turning lane.
“This makes sense,” Concepcion said.
Commissioner Steve Dershem was in agreement as well.
“It’s all about safety here, making sure that there’s a proper traffic flow. That’s going to be a busy intersection. … It already is. It will increase all of the safety aspects of that intersection,” Dershem said.
The traffic light — which is the county’s responsibility — will likely transfer to the township.
“We’re looking to turn that back over to the township in its entirety,” Franek said.
Dershem pointed out that the county does not “own roads or bridges.”
“That one traffic signal was our one tie to transportation infrastructure in Centre County, so if somebody else would want to take that over, that would be a wonderful thing. We’d be out of the transportation infrastructure business completely,” Dershem said.
Franek said that “is the goal.”
At one time, the Benner Pike boasted just a few businesses. Soon, it will have four gas stations with the addition of the county’s first Wawa, to go along with the Giant supermarket that opened in December. A McDonald’s and two hotels are also in the works, while in nearby Benner Commerce Park a massive “fulfillment center warehouse” that is expected to cause increased traffic on Rishel Hill Road is in the planning stages.
“With the growth in greater Bellefonte, we’re now having to make enlargements to some of the secondary roads as they feed into some of the major roads,” Higgins said.
The Centre County BOC will not meet next week as they are at their summer conference. They will meet again at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 8, at the Willowbank Building. That meeting is open to the public and will be televised live by C-NET.
