Sign for Penn Township business destroyed after 3 back-to-back crashes on Route 8

PENN TOWNSHIP, Pa. — The sign for McBride’s Station was destroyed Wednesday morning after several car accidents on Route 8 in Penn Township, Butler County. McBride’s owners say this type of situation happens all the time.

“We get hit constantly and no matter how much we ask PennDOT for help, they won’t,” McBride’s owner Serena Martz said.

Martz says she got the call from a customer Wednesday morning that her sign was knocked down after a car hit it. That was part of three accidents that all took place within an hour and 15 minutes right outside of McBride’s. PennDOT blamed Wednesday’s storms.

It’s the latest headache for Martz who is still trying to rebuild after a truck slammed into her bar in June of last year while patrons were inside. Then in November, while repairs were being made for the June incident, another crash reportedly took out new scaffolding.

“We get nervous sitting on the other side of the bar sometimes. Because we don’t know if one minute the cars gonna come through the building,” Steve Matoka, a patron at McBride’s Station, said.

Martz says she and her husband haven’t been paid any insurance money owed to them. They’ve emptied their savings to repair the building to try and keep the business running.

“We probably have about $70,000 of our savings gone. We have no savings left, we have no money left to fix anything,” Martz said.

Martz says she’s pleaded with PennDOT for greater safety measures including installing safety rails to ensure no one can veer off into her business again. PennDOT says that’s not an option.

“It’s not a feasible location for us to put a guide rail system in. We’ve had our traffic unit look at this on numerous occasions and it does not meet the qualifications for that.“ Tina Gibbs with PennDOT said.

McBride’s owners have asked PennDOT to install lights and signs here as a way to help. PennDOT says its traffic unit is aware of the stretch of roadway and has looked into possible options but there isn’t any word on final decisions.

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