A couple of months ago this summer, some mysterious person placed a plastic toy dump truck on the patch of gravel in the center of the roundabout on Route 74 where Route 851 terminates and Broad Street leading into Delta begins.
The roundabout is a center of the community. Businesses, including the Delta Family Restaurant, a Royal Farms convenience store and a gym called Model A Fitness, line the roundabout, which serves as the gateway into the historic Mason-Dixon-Line town of Delta at the southeastern corner of York County.
Soon, other toy trucks, including a crane and bulldozers, and school buses and even an Amish horse and buggy – in homage to that corner of the county that is home to a community of the plain people – joined the dump truck, and it turned into a roadside – or center – attraction. Garden gnomes joined the display, as did an action figure of “Toy Story” star Buzz Lightyear.
The community rallied around it.
“It even has its own Facebook page,” said Cameron Ingools, proprietor of Model A Fitness. “People liked it. It was fun.”
People driving by would stop and take photos, Ingools said, often pulling over at the diner parking lot. Traffic slowed – as is the purpose of a roundabout – to gawk at the pastiche that some on social media asserted was a tribute to the state Department of Transportation’s penchant for construction projects they believe take much longer than necessary.
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As it is with things like this, Ingools said, the motley display soon attracted naysayers, or “haters” in the current parlance. “Of course,” Ingools said, “a lot of people put too much stuff out there.”
Ingools took it upon herself to police the display, tidying it up and arranging the toys to communicate themes. For instance, she said, one week the display was dominated with construction vehicles. As the beginning of the school year approached, the school buses took prominence.
It didn’t seem to be a problem, Ingools said. The public diorama didn’t block the view of motorists navigating the roundabout, she said. “I don’t see it as an issue,” she said.
But some did.
PennDOT has an online form that allows motorists to notify the department about possible traffic and public safety problems. Apparently, according to PennDOT spokeswoman Fritzi Schreffler, someone filed a complaint with PennDOT, which looked into it and asked Peach Bottom Township to clear out the roundabout.
“We know that people struggle with roundabouts anyway,” Schreffler said. “The idea is to keep traffic moving, and if we have people stopping, it’s a problem.”
And it’s a liability, she said − “a safety concern.”
PennDOT contacted Peach Bottom Township, and last week the township dismantled the display. The township notified residents that it had removed the toys from the roundabout and gave them the opportunity to claim their property. (All did, according to the township.)
“It’s sad,” Ingools said, pointing out that the belief in the Delta area that PennDOT doesn’t shoulder its responsibilities for state roads in the area, leaving it up to the township.
This past weekend, those who liked the display won a short-lived victory. Someone – perhaps the same mysterious person who started it all – put a toy dump truck in the gravel in the center of the roundabout. By Tuesday morning, though, it was gone.
Meanwhile, Ingools said, there has been talk of starting a petition to convince PennDOT to permit the display.
“People,” she said, “are really together on this.”
Columnist/reporter Mike Argento has been a York Daily Record staffer since 1982. Reach him at mike@ydr.com.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Roadside attraction in Delta PA roundabout removed as a safety hazard.
