Within the Harrisburg, Lancaster, York and Lebanon media market, a few dozen streets and intersections account for a wildly disproportionate share of the crashes. Pennsylvania logged 110,765 reportable crashes statewide in 2024, and intersections accounted for 38 percent of them.1 Fatalities actually fell that year, to 1,127 statewide, the second-lowest total since Pennsylvania started keeping records in 1928.1 That statewide improvement doesn't mean much if you live near one of the specific intersections where crashes keep piling up. State crash data, a regional transportation study, and local news reporting on PennDOT's own analysis point to a fairly consistent list across all four counties.
Harrisburg and Dauphin County
Dauphin County recorded 2,909 crashes and 26 traffic deaths in 2024.1 The Tri-County Regional Planning Commission, which runs the Harrisburg Area Transportation Study (HATS), the region's federally recognized metropolitan planning organization, found that Cumberland, Dauphin and Perry counties combined for 274 deaths and 1,177 suspected serious injuries on their roads over the five years from 2018 through 2022.2
Cameron Street and Elmerton Avenue in the city of Harrisburg logged 56 reported crashes between 2020 and 2024, more than any other intersection in the county. Paxton Street and Mushroom Hill Road in Swatara Township wasn't far behind with 46, and Hershey Road and Hersheypark Drive in Derry Township added 36.3 HATS' own corridor analysis points to Derry Street between Mulberry Street and South 29th Street as the worst stretch in the city: the 1.6-mile corridor recorded 20 fatal or suspected serious injury crashes from 2018 through 2022, and a 1.3-mile length of 17th Street between Sassafras Street and Brookwood Street South added another 12.2 Where HATS' own data overlaps PennDOT's separate statewide network screening, Forster Street at North Front Street ranks as the highest-priority intersection needing safety work in Dauphin County, with Walnut Street at South 28th Street close behind.2
Pedestrians and cyclists carry an outsized share of the risk here. Across the Tri-County Region, only 3 percent of reported crashes from 2018 through 2022 involved a pedestrian or bicyclist, but 26 percent of pedestrian-involved crashes and 21 percent of bicyclist-involved crashes ended in a death or suspected serious injury, compared with just 6 percent of lane-departure crashes.2 PennDOT's own vulnerable road user assessment identifies eight high-risk areas for pedestrians and cyclists within the city of Harrisburg alone, more than any other municipality in the region.2
Lancaster County
Lancaster County saw 5,578 crashes in 2024, with 46 fatal crashes that killed 52 people, more traffic deaths than Dauphin, Lebanon or York recorded that year.1 Intersections carry a heavier load here than almost anywhere else in the market: 42 percent of the county's roughly 5,580 crashes in 2024 happened at or near an intersection, and a third of the county's 49 fatal crashes did too, according to PennDOT data reported by public radio station WITF.4
The single highest-crash-rate intersection in the county is Prospect Road and Fairview Road in West Hempfield Township, which saw 38 crashes in a single year before PennDOT lowered the speed limit, banned large trucks, and applied a high-friction surface treatment to the pavement. Crashes there fell to seven the following year.4 Nearby, Lititz Pike (Route 501) and Chester Road recorded 88 crashes between 2020 and 2024, and the wider Chester Road and York Road corridor in Manheim Township logged 128 crashes over the same span, the highest raw total of any intersection in the county.34 Lancaster Road (Route 72) and Lititz Road in East Hempfield Township saw 38 crashes in that period and two fatalities within weeks of each other, in February and March of 2022.4 PennDOT now has a traffic signal under construction at Route 72 and Lititz Road, with roundabouts in the planning stages for two more Route 72 intersections nearby.4
York County
York County's crash count rose to 4,591 in 2024, with 41 traffic deaths. Pedestrian fatalities jumped to 11 that year, roughly double or triple the four to six a year the county had logged in 2020 through 2023.1 The county's worst intersections cluster around Arsenal Road in Manchester Township: Arsenal Road at George Street recorded 66 crashes from 2020 through 2024, Arsenal Road at Toronita Street added another 58, and Mount Zion Road at Market Street in Springettsbury Township saw 51.3
Inside York city, East Market Street (Route 462) at North and East Harrison Street had racked up enough crashes, including one caught on a nearby business's security camera, that shop owners started pushing PennDOT to move faster on a fix. Gem Boutique owner Jin Jou Meighen told a local television station she'd paid thousands of dollars in property repairs over the years after vehicles crashed near her store, and Eden African Hispanic Food Market owner Sekou Kromah said the intersection needed more warning signs sooner rather than later.5 PennDOT's answer was a $775,711 signal, crosswalk and pavement-marking upgrade, built by Kinsley Construction of York and completed in October 2025.6
Lebanon County
Lebanon is the smallest of the four counties by crash volume, with 1,543 crashes and 20 traffic deaths in 2024, but its intersections have produced some of the market's most serious outcomes.1 Railroad Street and Cherry Street in Palmyra borough recorded 41 crashes between 2020 and 2024, Cumberland Street and Bowman Street in Lebanon city saw 28, and Weavertown Road and Eighth Avenue in North Lebanon Township added 24.3
The county's highest-profile intersection crash in recent memory happened on the night of October 18, 2024. Nineteen-year-old Cameron Schollenberger of Lebanon was riding his motorcycle eastbound on Walnut Street (Route 422) through its intersection with 10th Street (Route 72) when he collided with a southbound tractor-trailer and died at the scene.7 Elsewhere in the county, PennDOT wrapped up a $1.8 million realignment of Wilhelm Avenue, York Street and Cornwall Road in North Cornwall Township and Lebanon city, fixing an offset intersection that had made turns dangerous for students and drivers heading to and from Lebanon High School. The project won a 2025 safety design award from the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of Women's Transportation Seminar.8
If you're hurt at one of these intersections
None of these locations are a secret to the agencies that manage them. PennDOT and HATS have already mapped where crashes cluster across Harrisburg, Lancaster, York and Lebanon, and in several cases, safety work is underway or finished. That knowledge doesn't undo an injury that already happened. If you were hurt in a crash at a known high-crash intersection, a lawyer who's handled cases at that specific location before can often move faster on the details that matter, from getting the crash report to understanding whether an intersection's design or signal timing played a role. You can find one through thatcarhitme.com's legal directory.
This article is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
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Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, "2024 Pennsylvania Crash Facts & Statistics." https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/penndot/documents/travelinpa/safety/documents/2024_cfb_linked.pdf
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Tri-County Regional Planning Commission, "Harrisburg Area Transportation Study Safety Action Plan," July 2024. https://www.tcrpc-pa.org/_files/ugd/1c086c_7497ebc2bad949b5b4871f6ae725dc0e.pdf
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LancasterOnline, "These Central Pa. intersections had the most crashes from 2020 to 2024," July 20, 2025. https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/these-central-pa-intersections-had-the-most-crashes-from-2020-to-2024/article_504f7068-69e7-416f-9598-f03340c2a513.html
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WITF, "These are Lancaster County's most dangerous intersections," July 13, 2025. https://www.witf.org/2025/07/13/these-are-lancaster-countys-most-dangerous-intersections/
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Local21News (WHP-TV), "Community urges PennDOT to expedite safety upgrades at accident-prone York intersection." https://local21news.com/news/local/community-urges-penndot-to-expedite-safety-upgrades-at-accident-prone-york-intersection
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Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, District 8, "E Market St Intersection with Harrison St, York City / Spring Garden Twp, York Co," 2025. https://www.pa.gov/agencies/penndot/news-and-media/newsroom/district-8/2025/e-market-st-intersection-with-harrison-st-york-city-spring-garde
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LebTown, "Motorcyclist killed in Friday night crash in Lebanon city," October 19, 2024. https://lebtown.com/2024/10/19/motorcyclist-killed-in-friday-night-crash-in-lebanon-city/
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Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, "Award-Winning Innovative Intersection Project Improves Safety and Mobility." https://www.pa.gov/agencies/penndot/research-planning-and-innovation/innovation-at-penndot/focus-on-innovations-2025/design/award-winning-innovative-intersection-project