(The Center Square) — Dozens of places around Pennsylvania will have new traffic signals and safety upgrades as PennDOT announced almost $36 million in grants as part of a “Green Light-Go” program.
The state funds will benefit 77 municipalities.
“The safety improvements supported by the Green Light-Go program will help municipalities relieve congestion and traffic flow and keep Pennsylvanians moving safely and efficiently,” Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a press release. “Thanks to these grants, drivers and pedestrians are now safer, and Pennsylvanians can get where they need to go quicker and more efficiently.”
The money can be used to put up LED traffic signals, add ADA-compliant ramps, bumpouts, and other upgrades. Sometimes, the updates replace decades-old tech.
“The ones we’re trying to replace — some of it you’re still looking at electro-mechanicals, which is 1940s/1950s technology,” Philadelphia Deputy Commissioner of Transportation Richard Montanez said. Getting new lights, he said, will connect more signals and intersections into one central system.
Montanez estimated that about 50%-60% of all signals are part of the city’s central system so far.
“I gotta be honest, it’s old, but it still does the job,” he said. “It just doesn’t allow us to be proactive the way we would be now in case of an incident.”
Philadelphia will receive almost $7 million for three projects to modernize 111 intersections, including a half-dozen along Lincoln Drive and 10 along North Broad Street.
Costs depend on what type of work happens in each intersection.
“A lot of times we’re doing mast arms, overhead signals, wiring, trenching, you’re doing all four corners of ADA ramps,” Montanez said. “That tends to add to the costs —and labor costs have gone up.”
Localities must offer a 20% match of Green Light-Go funds to get a grant.
For Philadelphia’s Lincoln Drive project, the 6 intersections will have an average cost of $359,000; the 10 Broad Street intersections will cost $322,000; and the 95 others will average $14,400 before the matching local funds.
An estimate from the Washington Department of Transportation expects a “basic traffic signal system” to cost $250,000, but costs could be closer to $500,000 when engineering and supporting construction work is added in.
