Over the past several years, as the conversation for the Five Points intersection in Kennett Township included converting it to a roundabout, there was one essential component missing in that plan that other successful roundabouts in southern Chester County already enjoy.

Plenty of room to create one.

At the Kennett Township Board of Supervisors’ meeting on June 19, Public Works Director Ted Otteni spelled out an alternative design – approved by the supervisors -- that will create the same advantages of a roundabout – to cut down on congestion and provide for easier driving through the corridor where the intersection meets.

While several options were given consideration, the board voted in favor of maintaining the signaled intersection and outfitting it with left-turn lanes on both sides of Hillendale Road, and on Kaolin Road and South Union Street.

As a follow-up to a 2017 study of the intersection, Carroll Engineering Construction (CEC) recently performed an updated study of existing future traffic conditions at the intersection. The report came up with two potential scenarios: 1) keep the intersection as is, with maintenance of existing signal equipment; and 2) widen the existing roadways to allow for the construction of left-turn lanes for several of the intersection approaches and replacement of signals equipment.

Within the second option, Otteni said that CEC offered four additional possible scenarios: 

• Installing left-turn lanes on Kaolin Road and South Union Street; 
• Installing left-turn lanes on both sides of Hillendale Road; 
• Realigning Old Kennett Road to form a new T-intersection with Kaolin Road, approximately 700 feet south of the existing Five Points intersection; or
• Installing left-turn lanes on both sides of Hillendale Road, on Kaolin Road and South Union Street, but not on Old Kennett Road

“Left turns would be a low-cost solution to the problems in the intersection, well into the future,” Otteni said. “The engineers did a lot of traffic analysis, traffic counts and traffic projections, and the level of service for [the recommended option] is equitable to what a roundabout would provide in say, twenty to twenty-five years.

“We are taking a more gauged approach to the improvements that need to be done at the intersection.”

Roundabout idea nixed

Otteni said that a fourth option – to reconfigure the intersection to a roundabout as was originally proposed in 2017 at an estimate of $3.7 million – was dismissed because the required circular arterial and lanes would not be able to comfortably fit within the available space without requiring extensive build-out, which as the radius gets larger, will necessitate having to move several utilities and subsequently add to the roundabout’s price tag. 

In comparison, he said the estimated cost to revamp the intersection to include the four additional lanes would be $2.2 million.

“The thing I wanted to impress upon the engineers is that there are five approaches [at the intersection],” Otteni said. “A lot of our roundabouts have three and four legs, but when you put five legs into it, the circle must get bigger geometrically so that cars have the opportunity to approach and weave and diverge out, so that in itself is going to require that the circle be bigger.

“[With a roundabout], the terrain out there is going to require a lot of earth work, and when you think about westbound Hillendale Road, that drops away from the intersection, so that would require us to raise Hillendale or artificially push the roundabout in the opposite direction so that Hillendale would come out to a flat surface to enter the roundabout.”

Otteni said that he will soon request to redefine the “scope” of the $2 million grant that the township received from PennDOT a few years ago -- originally been intended to conduct a roundabout study -- in the hopes that it can be applied toward the construction of the new intersection. He said the next steps for the renovated intersection will involve a consultant section process that will be conducted in collaboration with PennDOT. Once a consultant is chosen, the project will proceed to final design.

Otteni then presented an estimated timeline for the project.

“If things fall into place – it’s an optimistic look – I think we could be moving some dirt by 2026,” he said. 

Township police pursuing accreditation

The Board of Supervisors approved a letter of intent that will permit the township’s police department to pursue accreditation under the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association’s Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Accreditation Program (PLEAC).

The PLEAC accreditation will assist the department in evaluating and improving their overall performance by establishing a standard of performance, strengthening its business practices, and recognize its organizational principles. PLEAC was established in 2001 and currently, over 170 police departments in the Commonwealth are currently maintaining accredited status, including the following Chester County law enforcement agencies that have achieved accreditation: East Brandywine Township Police, East Whiteland Township Police, North Coventry Township Police, Oxford Borough Police, Pennsylvania State Police, Schuylkill Township Police, Southern Chester County Regional Police, Upper Uwchlan Township Police, West Chester Borough Police, Westtown/East Goshen Regional Police and the West Whiteland Township Police.

In a presentation before the supervisors, Police Chief Matt Gordon said that among its many benefits, accreditation in PLEAC establishes a credible framework for evaluating agency practices and procedures; reduces agency risk and exposure to lawsuits; decreases some liability insurance expenditures; improves law enforcement and community relations; increases employee input, interaction and confidence in the agency; creates a solid foundation for the agency to build upon for further progress; establishes reliable methods to improve essential management procedures; and develops improved methods for providing services to the community.

“If you talk to anyone who has ever gone through this process of accreditation, they will tell you that it is work,” Gordon said. “It’s not easy. There are challenges. It’s complex, intensive, time-consuming and not free, but the benefits more than justify the efforts.”

The department will work with Jennifer Ruggeri, an accreditation specialist with Lexipol and former longtime emergency dispatcher with the Chester County Department of Emergency Services. Lexipol’s Law Enforcement Accreditation Service provides police agencies with personalized accreditation guidance, including assessment preparation and mentorship, state-specific policies and procedures that align with accreditation standards and standards-based online training. The project will also be administered by Gretchen Porterfield, the department’s administrative assistant, who will serve as the accreditation manager. 

Gordon said that there are three phases of the accreditation process: sending a latter of intent at a fee of $250; purchasing a document management system, an online software platform; and a self-assessment stage which when completed will contain 130 standards that the department will need to achieve, including 312 items – known as proof of compliance – that will need to be completed and stored within the document management system.  

The process will then include a mock assessment that will invite Lexipol personnel to examine the department’s policies remotely and identify any issues that need to be addressed before stage three – a two-day, in-person assessment that will involve an examination of the department’s facility, its personnel and its procedures – which is scheduled for early November. The examiners will then prepare an assessment report for the Accreditation Commission that will be reviewed by the Commission.  Afterwards, a decision whether to award accreditation to the department will be made.

Once approved, the department’s accreditation status will remain valid for a three-year period.

The complete presentation is available on the township’s website: www.kennett.pa.us.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].