Latrobe seeks state grant for traffic signal upgrades

Latrobe officials are hoping a state grant program that provided flashing school zone lights at Latrobe Elementary will also help them update a traffic signal on the south end of Ligonier Street.

As a PennDOT contractor begins work on improving signals at nine intersections in the heart of downtown Latrobe, city manager Michael Gray is looking to tap the state’s Automated Red Light Enforcement funding to make similar improvements at Ligonier Street and Avenue D.

Businesses at that intersection include the Carpenter Technology steel mill and the Lesco Federal Credit Union.

Once the PennDOT project is completed, “that’s going to be the only signalized intersection that’s not going to be upgraded to the new LED design, controls and control box,” said Gray. “That’s also a heavily used intersection with the steel mill being there and Lesco.”

Gray plans to ask council at its July 13 meeting to authorize consultant Gibson-Thomas Engineering to prepare documents for the grant application. He said no local funding match would be required and engineering costs would be covered by the grant.

He said he would also like it to cover updated handicapped-accessible curb ramps, paving and crosswalks — matching improvements planned at the nine other intersections.

“I think it is definitely needed,” he said.

A cost for the Avenue D intersection improvement has yet to be determined, Gray said. Last year, the city obtained a $122,000 ARLE grant to install flashing lights at Latrobe Elementary, to alert motorists on adjacent streets that they are entering a reduced-speed school zone.

The ARLE program is funded with fines collected through automated red light enforcement systems in the state.

If proposed improvements at Avenue D are similar to those at the nine other intersections, sensors that help regulate switching of the signals will no longer be placed under the pavement, said Scott Wajdic, director of public works.

“You can mill the street without affecting them,” he said.

Contractor Kuharchik Construction was in Latrobe this week conducting exploratory drilling, before boring under several downtown streets to install electrical conduit.