State grants fund traffic light upgrades in Salem, Latrobe

State traffic safety grants announced this week will improve a signal at routes 22 and 819 in Salem and will provide flashing signs to warn motorists of a reduced speed limit next to Latrobe Elementary School.

The grants of $120,000 to Salem Township and $122,000 to the City of Latrobe were included among $13.1 million for 41 safety improvement projects across the state, approved through PennDOT’s Automated Red Light Enforcement program.

More than $700,000 was approved for other traffic safety efforts in Tarentum and three nearby communities.

The Salem signal upgrade will improve upon a monitor that is supposed to change the lights to provide the right-of-way to trucks from the local Forbes Road and Slickville fire departments when they approach on Route 819 en route to an emergency, township Supervisor Bob Zundel said.

The existing signal hasn’t worked properly, but the improved version will allow firefighters to change the light themselves, according to Zundel.

“They can push a button in the fire truck, and automatically it will change so they can get on the highway,” he said.

Other improvements will include new signage at the intersection and a battery backup that will allow the signal to remain active during a power outage — rather than waiting for a township crew to arrive with a generator.

“We’ve had terrible accidents there,” Zundel said of the intersection. “Now, we have the chance to make it a lot safer.” Fellow township supervisor Kerry Jobe assisted with the grant application, he said.

The flashing signs in Latrobe will augment ones already posted to enforce a reduced 15 mph school zone speed limit on weekday mornings and afternoons, when students are respectively arriving at and departing from the elementary school at Ligonier and Cedar streets.

The two-story school, which replaced an aging building several blocks away along Ligonier, opened a little more than a year ago.

“This will raise the awareness of passing motorists that it is a school zone,” said Latrobe Mayor Rosie Wolford. “Anything we can do to increase awareness in that area is important.”