Slatington to receive over $270K to improve traffic signal

Slatington will get more than $270,000 to improve the traffic signal at a busy intersection.

The funding will be used to upgrade the traffic signal at the intersection of Main Street (Route 873) and Church Street to current standards.

Part of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s Automated Red Light Enforcement program, the funding will go toward 41 safety improvement projects in the state.

Borough council President Dan Stevens said the goal is for improved safety at the intersection.

“It’s great that we were able to secure more money,” Stevens said. “This will allow us hopefully to proceed with the project, which would improve the safety of the intersection there.”

In February, the borough received $440,000 to realign and reconstruct the Route 873/Walnut Street intersection as part of a $44.5 million Multimodal Transportation Fund.

Gov. Tom Wolf announced that 50 highway, bridge, transit, aviation and bike and pedestrian projects in 23 counties were selected for funding through the Multimodal Transportation Fund.

PennDOT evaluated the applications and made selections based on such criteria as safety benefits, regional economic conditions, the technical and financial feasibility, job creation, energy efficiency and operational sustainability.

Slatington’s realignment/reconstruction project is to be completed in conjunction with the Lehigh County Walnut Street Bridge replacement.

In November 2018, borough council voted to pursue the grant to help pay for work on the intersection of Walnut and Main streets.

The intersection needs to be realigned with the bridge.

Currently, traffic traveling from Route 873 has to veer to the right as it goes through the intersection with Main Street and Walnut Street.