Lower Burrell is asking PennDOT to weigh public safety against peace and quiet on a stretch of Route 56.
Council last week requested PennDOT complete a “brake retarder study,” in the section of Route 56 between Hill Crest Country Club and its intersection with Puckety Church and Leechburg roads.
Mayor Chris Fabry said a resident reached out to the city asking them to look into “jake brakes” on that stretch of road because it is noisy. A brake retarder, or jake brake, is an engine brake in some diesel engines that create a loud, deep engine roar when used.
There are a few homes behind Route 56 and the Rite Aid store there, along Harding Street.
Fabry said, if the city wanted to prohibit jake brakes in that area, it would need to have PennDOT complete a study.
PennDOT spokeswoman Laina Aquiline referred to criteria PennDOT considers when studying brake retarders. That criteria includes the road’s speed limit being less than 55 mph, and there being no history of runaway truck crashes or a “discernible pattern” of fender-benders in the past three years, where the truck was the striking vehicle.
It also looks into the road’s grade. The road’s average downhill grade can’t be higher than 4% within any 500-foot stretch of the road — for example, the change elevation of the road can’t be more than 20 feet in any 500-foot section of a downhill.
Aquiline was unable to say what the grade is in that section of Route 56 because the study hasn’t yet been completed. City Manager Greg Primm thinks the road’s grade will be “too extreme” to have the jake brake prohibition there.
Other criteria to prohibit jake brakes include the road not having a reduced speed limit or gear zone for trucks due to a hazardous grade determination.
“Engine brakes are extremely effective at restricting truck speeds preventing them from free-wheeling down hills,” Aquiline said. “Restricting them reduces safety, hence the reason PennDOT scrutinizes that option through a study instead of arbitrarily imposing restriction.”
Jake brake ordinances are something area municipalities have tried with mixed success.
Bridgeville last year was able to restrict jake brakes on a portion of McLaughlin Run Road after PennDOT found the area met criteria for brake retarders, borough officials said.
Delmont officials in 2023 approved a jake brake ordinance in response to resident complaints, but noted it would be tricky to enforce and couldn’t prohibit jake brakes in all areas of the borough.
PennDOT in 2022 could not approve New Kensington’s request to prohibit jake brakes on Route 56 at the intersection with Leechburg and Freeport roads due to the road’s grade; but was able to grant it on Route 366 near Valley High School.
With the Lower Burrell case, if PennDOT recommends jake brakes be prohibited, city officials would be required to pass an ordinance banning them in the area. The city would be responsible for signage and enforcement.
It’s unclear when the city will get the study results from PennDOT. Aquiline said PennDOT hasn’t yet received the request letter from the city.
She said the time lapse from the date of the request to the study being completed depends on PennDOT’s workload, and that the Lower Burrell request “would not be deemed an emergency type request as trucks equipped with engine brakes have been traveling this section of roadway for decades.”
Brennan Sites, fire chief of Lower Burrell No. 3, cautioned council with its potential next steps. Sites said he understood the concern of noise but also said the brakes increase safety.
Aquiline did not have a number of reported crashes in that stretch of road. It has been the scene of at least two fatal crashes, and others where people were seriously injured, within the past decade.