A crosswalk at a hazardous intersection in Walnutport has been removed.

Borough roadmaster Michael Wentz told borough council on Thursday that the crosswalk between the McDonald’s and Dollar General on Main Street is gone.

Wentz said the price came in at $350, which was less than the original quote he received in the amount of $400.

However, he added the borough has a sinkhole on Route 145, and just put stone in it.

“The hole is backfilled,” Wentz said. “It is not fixed.”

Wentz said the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in November 2020 did a covert move and wrote their maintenance manual around the MS4, municipal separate storm sewer system.

As a result, he said PennDOT is throwing it back on all the local municipalities so that all catch basins, culverts and all pipes underground on any state road that runs through a local municipality is going to be their responsibility.

Wentz added that many municipalities were unaware of this, and that the borough only found out because they had a problem,

“We’re responsible for everything,” he said. “We’re MS4 compliant.”

Wentz used the area from Lehigh Gap Street to Washington Street, the section known as the Battle of the Bulge Highway, as an example.

He said that per PennDOT’s maintenance manual, they are to cut grass, and all vegetation is to be cut down from the white line to the guide rail.

“For many years, they came down by the (former) Terrace (Restaurant); (now) it looks like a pigsty,” Wentz said. “Their maintenance manual says they have to be clearing brush on highways.”

In January, PennDOT said the crosswalk - which had been in place for several decades - had to be removed.

After the borough requested a study for signs at the crosswalk, PennDOT determined it should be taken away.

It started when resident Leslie Dixon appeared before borough council in November to request to have pedestrian signs installed.

Dixon, who returned in January, said the crosswalk has been the site of multiple crashes over the years, including several fatalities. She said her mother, Dorothy Peters, was killed there in 2012.

But Wentz told Dixon that Main Street and Route 145 are under Penn­DOT’s jurisdiction.

Borough engineer Jason Newhard said at that time he wasn’t even sure it’s a legal crosswalk.

Borough solicitor Michael Corriere wrote a letter to PennDOT to see if a safety study was warranted.

The response was received on Jan. 7.

Corriere said PennDOT said it will not install additional signs and that the crosswalk should be removed.

The crosswalk did not meet PennDOT requirements because of driver sight distance based on speed limits.