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What traffic planners know now regarding the behemoth growth Altoona and its immediate surroundings have witnessed since the 1960s could have averted the troublesome intersection that currently exists near the Target store in the Sierra North Plaza -- as well as some lesser sources of travel frustration.
Trouble is, there was no way to predict back then how the area's economic landscape would develop over the course of the next 50 or 60 years.
Hanging over the area from the start was uncertainty over how Downtown Altoona would survive redevelopment upheaval and businesses' exodus to suburban sites and whether the outward move would fizzle after a while.
Even with the evolving expertise at the Altoona and Blair County planning commissions, the six-county Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission and the roadway-
design offices at the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, the area was missing the proverbial crystal ball that could have alerted those planners to potential trouble spots that eventually might surface as growth exceeded anyone's predictions or imagination.
Thus, regarding the intersection near Target, every possible remedy seems to bring the prospect of a "replacement" problem or problems.
Meanwhile, PennDOT reportedly is satisfied with the way the existing traffic lights work and the way traffic flows on Plank Road in that area.
With PennDOT not seeing much justification for involvement in the issue, based also in part on the fact that some private property is involved, and because of the existence of so many conflicting factors, motorists should not anticipate a speedy resolution of the current travel and access problems.
However, there would be no harm in conducting a detailed study of that area about whether there are possible remedies not yet identified or suggested.
An in-depth study of the Target intersection is the logical first step, moving forward from now, but the estimated $300,000 study cost is a hurdle that could drive the last nail in the project's proverbial coffin, unless study supporters can muster a way or ways to find the financial backing.
If private property is involved in any option deemed preferable, Allegheny Township officials, like PennDOT, would be right in rejecting participation, since public money should never be allocated for something on private property, except, perhaps, in a rare case of special, crucial circumstances that could withstand a court challenge.
Regardless of whatever potential remedial effort that might be launched, there is no question about whether it would have to win the support of applicable planning agencies.
Dave McFarland, county planning director, said a solution for the problem will "necessitate participation, and potentially agreement, of the various property owners, business owners/managers, and public sector interests in the area."
That has become ever more obvious.
"In hindsight, we can see that the intersection should have been designed differently (in the 1990s, when Sierra North was built), but the township at the time did not have the benefit of the knowledge that we have now," McFarland said.
The Target intersection is a textbook example of why planners must remain unceasingly vigilant -- and with them, elected public officials who have the power to address small issues, or at least provide guidance about certain considerations, before they become big ones.
Only behemoth growth, not any specific agency or entity, is responsible for the situation near Target prompting so much discussion at this time.