WILKES-BARRE TOWNSHIP, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Another violent truck crash in a Luzerne County neighborhood and more questions about what can be done to reduce or even prevent these crashes.
The crashes are happening in an area near a road commonly known as Giant’s Despair a road that has been the site of crashes for decades.
In the Georgetown section of Wilkes-barre Township, there is heavy damage done by two truck crashes.
Both trucks smashed into a garage here on Lehigh Street residents and community leaders say enough is enough and they want something done to make this area safer.
“They weren’t even done cleaning up this mess from November 9th and it occurred this morning at 7:30 am,” stated Mike Revitt, the Wilkes-Barre Township Administrator.
A truck towing a flatbed with a storage unit on top lost its brakes coming down Giant’s Despair road. The driver used Lehigh Street as a runaway truck road.
“There’s a school bus stop right at the bottom of Lehigh and South Walnut. If this vehicle was 10 minutes later there would have been a plethora of children waiting at that bus stop. The school district has already made their decision to move the bus stop to the corner of South Walnut and Metcalf Street,” explained Revitt.
Giants Despair connects the Wyoming Valley to Route 115 in Bear Creek near the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Big rigs are banned from using the roadway and there are warning signs on Giant’s Despair and Route 115. But as we see in Wednesday’s case and the one in November some truck drivers either ignore or are unaware of the truck ban.
Wednesday’s crash has prompted calls for the banning of all trucks or at last heavy loads on Giant’s Despair. Revitt says he is working with state lawmakers, state police, and PennDOT to find solutions.
“It’s still a work in progress. There’s no easy or quick fix to the solution,” said Revitt.
Residents just want something done.
“The fact that it happened twice like in three months is kind of crazy and you know a bus stop right there just it’s weird,” explained Brady Melovitz.
PennDOT tells Eyewitness News that solutions to these crashes are a top priority.
“We have done a lot from the engineering perspective ad we are continuing to look more options. We just had a meeting with Representative Eddie Pashinski and his team along with State Police in January to see what we can do from an engineering side from law enforcement and education,” stated Richard Roman, executive of PennDOT.
State Representative Eddie Day Pashinski tells Eyewitness News they are exploring several options to prevent truck crashes including making Gaint’s Despair one way uphill. Changing the access to the road near 115.
Pashinski says he plans to talk with community leaders to conduct a study on the roadway to come up with possible solutions.
You can read the full report for the possible study done on Gaint’s Despair from Pashinski below:
