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State transportation Secretary Allen Biehler Friday visited the Washington County intersection where five people were killed April 24 when their van collided with a tractor-trailer in Somerset Township.

State Sen. Barry Stout, D-Bentleyville, said he invited Biehler to see the intersection to encourage him to prioritize safety measures there.

"I wanted the secretary to look at the site itself and ... see what it's like down there," said Stout, who represents Washington and Beaver counties. "We have 8,000 cars that use Brownlee Road every day and 4,000 on Route 136."

"We wanted to have the attention of District 12 so they view it as a priority project. We want to make it very clear we wanted this addressed as soon as possible," Stout said. "It's been a tragedy waiting to happen for years. I think we have their attention now."

Some short-term improvements have been made.

Joe Szczur of PennDOT District 12 said yesterday that officials visited the site the day after the crash that took the lives of three residents of a Bentleyville home for the mentally disabled and two employees. The truck driver also was injured.

State police at Washington said the van was traveling on Brownlee Road and stopped at the intersection, then proceeded into the path of the truck as it came down Route 136.

Szczur said the state replaced standard-sized stop signs on Brownlee Road with larger ones to draw attention to the approaching intersection with Route 136.

"We wanted to draw attention to the stop signs approaching the intersection for people that may not be familiar with the area," Szczur said.

A property owner granted PennDOT permission to remove three trees along Route 136 that had limbs obstructing the field of vision near the intersection, Szczur said.

"The branches were in our right of way, but the property owner told us to take down all three trees entirely," he said.

Speed advisory signs have been added to Route 136 to encourage motorists to stay within the 45-mph speed limit. The final, short-term improvement will be the addition of rumble strips on both Brownlee Road and Route 136.

"This is what we are doing in the short term, but this intersection is a high priority considering it's well-traveled because it is a shortcut to interstates 70 and 79," Szczur said.

Szczur said a survey team will be sent to the site to gather data to determine a plan for a long-term safety solution for the intersection. He said it appears adding a traffic signal would not be the answer.

"It may cause more accidents than prevent them," he said.

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