Category: News || By Jason Togyer

View New traffic lights in a larger map
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A $300,000 grant from the state Department of Transportation will allow the city to replace traffic lights at seven intersections with new ones that are safer, more reliable and which use less electricity.

Perhaps more importantly to local motorists, the signals also will be more "traffic-friendly," says Tom Rosso, city electrician.

"We're in the business of moving people through, not stopping them," he says.

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The new lights will be installed on West Fifth Avenue at Rebecca Street, 10th Ward; Fifth Avenue at Market Street and Ninth Avenue at Walnut Street, Downtown; and on Walnut Street in Christy Park at Iowa, 26th, 28th and 30th avenues. Replacement of the signals is expected to begin later this year and should be wrapped up in 2012, Rosso says.

The grant, announced this week, is one of more than 100 paid for with fines collected from red-light enforcement cameras in Philadelphia, according to PennDOT spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick.

Under the state law that allowed Philadelphia to install red-light cameras, fines are divided between Philadelphia and the rest of the state, Kirkpatrick says. Municipalities submitted more than 300 applications for $68 million worth of projects.

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Projects that were selected were chosen because they saved money for municipalities, were cost-effective and had a large impact on local and regional traffic, Kirkpatrick says.

Walnut Street in Christy Park serves about 14,000 vehicles per day, according to PennDOT traffic estimates, while the intersection of West Fifth and Rebecca sees about 21,000 vehicles daily.

"Since we don't have a highway, those are major arteries for people who live in Elizabeth Township, for instance, and work in Pittsburgh," Rosso says. The city is seeking additional funding from the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission to synchronize the lights along Walnut Street and move traffic more swiftly through the corridor, he says.

Many of the traffic-light controllers being replaced date to the early 1960s, are mechanically driven and prone to failure, Rosso says. When they do malfunction, especially due to shorted wiring, they can stop working in ways that are unsafe, such as indicating "green" on both streets in an intersection.

What's more, the signals along Walnut Street are no longer able to react to traffic on the side streets, because the sensors on the side streets no longer work, and can't be replaced. Instead, they cycle through red, yellow and green on a timer, stopping traffic on Walnut regardless of whether anyone is exiting a side street.

"If you upgrade the detectors, you need new controllers, and we've never been able to afford new controllers," Rosso says.

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The new controllers will be fully solid-state and in the event of a malfunction, will go to a "fail-safe" mode --- flashing red and yellow, for instance.

In addition, higher traffic intersections, including Rebecca and West Fifth, will employ traffic signals light-emitting diodes instead of conventional light bulbs. Although they cost more than conventional lights, LEDs are brighter, longer-lasting and use less electricity.

Replacing bulbs in some of the city's existing traffic lights with LEDs has saved the city about $20,000 in electricity already, Rosso says.

Other nearby communities receiving funding for traffic control upgrades include Hempfield Township, $16,000 for a school speed signal replacement; Murrysville, $13,000 for upgrade of a warning signal to solar-powered LED; and Rostraver Township, $60,453 for new signal timing, upgraded vehicle detection systems and three new flashing school zone signs.

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