A Jim Thorpe Borough councilman has asked his colleagues to consider adding a traffic light at the entrance to the Route 903 bridge coming from the east side of town.

During a borough workshop Thursday night, Robert Schaninger cited increased traffic and safety concerns as the reason behind his request.

“It’s an accident waiting to happen,” Schaninger said. “There was a study done over 10 years ago by PennDOT and since then, the Glen has gotten busier and I’ve seen a lot of near misses with people pulling out there.”

PennDOT, borough officials said, would require another study since the light would be placed along one of their roads. The likelihood that the state would deem one necessary at that location is slim, according to Police Chief Joe Schatz.

“The first thing PennDOT will say is let’s see your crash stats,” Schatz said. “We had one crash in 2016. Other than that, we haven’t had any to warrant us to say it’s necessary.”

To avoid backups on the bridge, Schaninger said the light could have tripwires to detect vehicles coming from Front Street to cross or turn onto North Street.

“The rest of the time the light would be green for the North Street traffic,” he said. “I’ve seen that work at a lot of intersections.”

Borough officials estimated the cost of the traffic light should it be deemed necessary would be around $300,000.

“We don’t have a lot of accidents there, but I do agree there are more pedestrians there now,” Mayor Michael Sofranko said. “Having someone look at it doesn’t hurt.

“Traffic flow has increased especially since the Route 903 turnpike ramp addition.”

Schaninger said the estimated cost is more than he anticipated.

“I can’t believe the state would make us pay that much money for a light,” he said. “I’m not a technician or a doctor. I’m a truck driver and I just see what I see. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.”