By JOHNNY WILLIAMS —
ATHENS TOWNSHIP — Three people were killed during the early morning hours on Tuesday when their vehicle crashed along Riverside Drive in Athens Township. According to Athens Township Police, Brett W. Relyea, 46, of Owego, Melanie M. Schursbusch, 42, also of Owego, and Arthur G. Bidlack, 46, of Barton were killed when their 2013 Nissan Altima, which was being driven by Relyea, crashed into another parked vehicle at approximately 2:39 a.m. on Riverside Drive north of the Sayre bridge.
Police explained that Relyea was driving southbound at a high rate of speed when he lost control of the vehicle.
“After traveling a great distance, the vehicle then left the right side of the roadway and struck a parked 2001 Ford F-350 which was parked off the roadway,” police said.
However, the crash occurred just south of a sunken portion of Riverside Drive, prompting residents to express concerns on the safety of that part of the road.
On Wednesday, a PennDOT spokeswoman acknowledged that the dip in the road is part of an embankment failure with gradual settlement.
“The area was previously patched in 2015,” she said. “However, additional settlement has occurred over this past winter.”
The spokeswoman also noted that new patchwork would be done in the area on Saturday, weather permitting. Additionally, a 150-foot stretch of Riverside Drive is expected to be repaved by May 4, and local PennDOT crews will be monitoring the movement of the roadway on a weekly basis, she said.
She added that the posted speed limit on Riverside Drive remains 40 MPH.
Autopsies were performed on all three occupants, and a toxicology report and results of the full investigation are pending, police noted.
They seem to want to focus on dip in the road as a opposed to the main problem excessive speed