For at least 25 years, the only legal maneuver from Ruby Street onto Columbia Avenue has been a right turn.
A sign indicates this, but painted arrows that used to be on the pavement have worn away.
Because King and Orange streets meet to form Columbia Avenue nearby, making a left turn onto Columbia from Ruby is dangerous.
People either ignore the sign, don't see it, or can't read it. More people are making left turns.
When the arrows were there, even if people ignored the sign, they saw the arrows. I can't help but believe the increase in left turns is because of the absence of the arrows.
I think it would be relatively inexpensive for the city to repaint the arrows.— MISSING THE ARROWS ON RUBY STREET
For the record, the city says the sign is key because (A) it takes precedence legally — once you have a sign, pavement markings are optional — and (B) the sign is visible in all kinds of weather, unlike pavement markings, which can be covered by snow.
And Lancaster City police and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation say their crash statistics don't suggest a problem.
"People shouldn't be turning left there, but to be honest with you, I just don't think we get a lot of accidents there," Sgt. Mike Banner said Tuesday.
PennDOT statistics show seven crashes during the five-year period spanning 2003 through 2007 — one case of a pedestrian struck, one case of a vehicle hitting a fixed object, one same-direction sideswipe, and four "angle crashes," ones that are not head-on or rear-end crashes.
Even assuming that all four of the angle crashes came as a result of illegal left turns, the numbers are "relatively insignificant," PennDOT spokeswoman Fritzi Schreffler said.
Lancaster County Lookout would throw in the sideswipe, but still, five crashes in five years isn't a lot for an intersection as busy as Ruby Street and Columbia Avenue.
Two final points, then the good news.
First, the "All Traffic MUST Turn Right" sign on Ruby Street is a good distance from the corner. A tree stands between it and the stop sign, so it seems possible that drivers (A) might not be looking for a sign so far from the corner or (B) might believe they can get away with ignoring it.
And, second, to support our reader's observation that many illegal lefts are being made at the intersection, Lancaster County Lookout witnessed two in the 10 minutes or so it took to circle the block and take photos for this column.
The good news: An arrow indicating the right-turn-only rule will be painted on Ruby Street "as soon as it's dry" enough to do it, Donna Jessup, operations manager for Lancaster City's Department of Streets, Motor Vehicles and Traffic, said Tuesday.
Responsible party: The city streets department, 291-4835.
Status of improvement: Pavement markings coming back as soon as it's dry enough to paint them.
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UGI Utilities has until Wednesday to set a meeting date with Noland and Jane Wenger of Lititz to resolve the couple's dispute of roughly $10,000 in bills from last winter.
The meeting, with a mediator from the Public Utility Commission, must happen by Jan. 28, unless both parties agree to an extension, PUC spokeswoman Jennifer Kocher said.
If one of the parties rejects mediation, or if one or both parties agree that mediation is not working, the PUC will schedule a hearing on the dispute before an administrative law judge, Kocher said.
The Wengers say that the nearly $10,000 in gas usage they were billed for in a single quarter last winter is impossibly high. They cite the usage on their UGI bills from the previous winter, which was one-quarter the amount billed for last winter.
UGI says the meter in the Wengers' home was checked and rechecked, and found to be working properly.
The PUC would like to see the parties resolve the dispute without a hearing. The Wengers and UGI share that aspiration.
"I hope we can find a mutually satisfactory resolution to this issue," UGI communications manager Joe Swope said Tuesday, adding that until there's a resolution, he can't say much more.
