Chip And Tar Project Outside Sunbury May Have Contributed To Crash

According to the Sunbury Daily Item Motorists were concerned about the site of a fatal crash last weekend. According to the article, concerned drivers who use the road where a New Berlin woman was killed in a Saturday car accident said a recent tar-and-chip project the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation did on New Berlin Mountain Road left it dangerous for motorists.

One woman told The Daily Item on Monday that she and her boyfriend lost and regained control of their vehicle at the same intersection with Violet Road where Amanda Lee Waltman, 22 of New Berlin, died.

State police at Milton continue to investigate the two-vehicle accident, said trooper Matthew Burrows, a state police spokesman.

PennDOT will review the police report of the accident once it is available, said Rick Mason, spokesman for PennDOT’s District 3, which includes Union County.

The work along New Berlin Mountain Road was performed Friday, Mason said, and involved seal-coating, or oil-and-chip coating, along the shoulder of the road.

Waltman was driving northbound on New Berlin Mountain Road when, for reasons unknown, her passenger-side tires skidded on the eastern fog line, state police reported. This caused Waltman to abruptly steer into oncoming southbound traffic, where she collided with a car driven by Alex Tatarin, 43, whose address was not available.

After seeing Sunday’s report about Waltman, Jackie Reuss told The Daily Item that she and her boyfriend had a similar experience Friday on New Berlin Mountain Road heading toward Mifflinburg.

Reuss said she noticed the “fresh oil” sign on the shoulder at Violet Road and that very recently, the shoulders had been tarred and chipped.

“It made the lanes very tight when trying to keep off of the fine gravel,” she said.

“Coming down the other side of the mountain, my boyfriend nearly lost control of the vehicle — twice — because these rocks that were supposed to be on the shoulder were covering the entire roadway,” she said.

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