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Pull over! You've been targeted by survey police
You still could be pulled over by a state trooper this summer.
That's because drivers doing absolutely nothing wrong will be stopped so consultants can ask a few questions.
"They'll be handing out surveys on the interstate highways, and stopping people to conduct interviews on the secondary roadways," said Ronald Krusienski, PennDOT's assistant district traffic engineer for District 11 in Collier.
The information will help planners at the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission better direct federal transportation dollars within the 10-county region that includes Allegheny, Beaver, Lawrence, Butler, Armstrong, Indiana, Westmoreland, Fayette, Greene and Washington counties.
Among the numerous roads scheduled for the survey are Interstate 79 in Greene County, Interstate 70 in Washington County and Route 60 in Lawrence County. The surveys will be done around the perimeter of the 10-county area.
Avoiding the targeted roads on survey days will be a matter of luck. The commission isn't disclosing its specific schedule.
This is the first face-to-face highway survey of this size in Western Pennsylvania in decades, Krusienski said.
The survey will be an inconvenience, but it's legal, said Larry Frankel, legislative director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania.
"I'd be more irritated than anything else," he said. "I don't think it raises any constitutional issues."
Frankel suggested placing questionnaires at rest stops, in PennDOT offices or even in newspaper ads rather than stopping motorists.
Frankel's methods would not generate as great, or as accurate, a response from drivers, said Leslie Daugherty, a data collection coordinator for Wilbur Smith Associates' North Side office, which the commission hired to conduct the survey.
State police will direct traffic through the interview zones on the interstate highways, where motorists will be handed cards they can fill out later and return by mail. If traffic backs up, police will allow vehicles to move through.
Delays are estimated at two minutes on the interstates and up to five minutes elsewhere.
The zones will be marked off with cones and signs that will say "Traffic Survey Ahead" to distinguish the area from a police checkpoint.
"I know it's an inconvenience, and we're trying to keep delays to a minimum," Daugherty said.
The commission, based Downtown, is looking for information on household-related travel, workplace travel, parking and transit, said Shannon O'Connell, a commission spokeswoman.
Similar surveys have been conducted recently near Philadelphia and in the West Virginia panhandle. The on-road surveys are more common in other parts of the country.
"It's not big in this part of the country," Daugherty said.
The three-month study will cost $650,000, and the results will be compiled by next spring.
The only major road not listed for a survey: the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
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