Some safety improvements have been made and more are in the works for Highland Avenue in West View, near Ross, following a fatal crash last year.
Addalena Maiette, 19, of West View died at the scene of the Sept. 25 crash at Highland and Cornell avenues.
According to Allegheny County Police, three vehicles were stopped on Highland Avenue, a two-lane road, when the third vehicle, driven by Maiette, tried to pass the other two by going into the oncoming lane.
Her vehicle collided with the first in the line, which at the same time was trying to make a left turn onto Cornell. The man driving the turning vehicle was not hurt.
Another crash a week later at Highland and Columbia was caused by an intoxicated driver, said West View Manager Bruce Fromlak, the borough’s former police chief.
Fromlak said residents have long complained about speeding on Highland Avenue, a state road with a 30 mph speed limit.
“People coming off 279 don’t back off the accelerator and come down Highland Avenue at a high rate of speed into a residential area,” he said. “If people just follow the speed limit and follow the rules of the road, we’d be good.”
Speed bumps or humps, as well as stop signs or traffic signals, are not feasible on Highland, he said.
“Residents want the borough and the state to do something. We can only do what the National Transportation Safety Board allows us to do,” Fromlak said. “We try to control it with the police department, but you can’t always stop operator error.”
The borough will be adding stop signs from the three alleys that come out onto Highland once the weather breaks, Fromlak said.
Crosswalks have been updated by being repainted with reflective material, and crosswalk signs are now fluorescent with arrows pointing at the crosswalks.
West View is pursuing state grant funding for six solar-powered pedestrian crossing signs, Fromlak said.
According to Fromlak, there are plans for an “Are your turn signals on?” sign to be installed for vehicles coming onto Highland Avenue from Gass Road.
Because the turn is not enough to deactivate turn signals, vehicles proceed down Highland with their right-turn signals still blinking, which has been cited as the cause of some minor crashes.
A sign under the stop sign on Cornell at Highland cautions drivers that “oncoming traffic with turn signals on may not turn.”
More important, Fromlak said, is that PennDOT is planning on turning the intersection of Highland Avenue and Gass Road into a roundabout, which he said would slow down traffic coming off the interstate.
PennDOT spokesman Steve Cowan said the agency now is evaluating an intersection improvement project there, and is “assessing various intersection control types and traffic analysis.
“Once the initial determination has been completed, additional preliminary intersection design work will occur prior to an anticipated public meeting in late summer/early fall 2026.”
West View police will continue speed enforcement on Highland, Fromlak said.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Gass Road.