UPS Scraps Plans for Left-Turn Lane on Blair Mill

came before the Horsham Township Council Monday night looking to alter a proposed plan for road improvements near its facility.

Council approved UPS' request to eliminate the planned left-turn lane it was slated to install on the eastbound section of Blair Mill Road into its entrance. The modification was scheduled to be part of a wide-ranging facility development that began in 2008 and is now nearing completion.

UPS officials said the left-turn lane request came from council four years ago, as a way to ease traffic flow into the employee lot off of Blair Mill Road.

However, as part of the construction project, entrance to that lot from Blair Mill Road has been closed, and employees now gain access to the lot through Welsh Road. The Blair Mill Road entrance is now largely only used by tractor trailers that head to and from the facility and the Pennsylvania Turnpike, with very few vehicles needing to make a left into the site from the eastbound lane.

Township officials spent an hour in the morning and the evening one day last week surveying the traffic flow and verified that.

With the left-turn lane included, road improvements were expected to cost about $284,000 but, without it, will amount to about $98,000.

Council requested that UPS pay the difference between the two figures — $185,898.90 — to the township for it to use for traffic improvements elsewhere in the area.

"I understand that it may not be necessary and that other areas of the township need improvements immediately so that money may be more beneficial right now elsewhere," said Council President Mark McCouch.

Council approved the agreement with the understanding that UPS will still need to garner approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for the plan alterations.