Tamaqua will take the first step in applying for a grant for a traffic study.

Borough Manager Kevin Steigerwalt noted that he and council members Kathy Kunkel and Jay Hollenbach Jr. recently met with a representative from the Northeastern Pennsylvania Alliance.

“We were throwing around some ideas on how to improve traffic conditions throughout town, as far as congestion and traffic flow,” Steigerwalt explained.

A consultant from NEPA, an economic development agency that aids communities with grants and more, suggested that the borough consider applying for a grant from the “Green Light Go” program.

The competitive state grant program is designed to improve the efficiency and operation of existing traffic signals, and is administered by PennDOT’s Bureau of Maintenance and Operations.

Steigerwalt added that he had spoken to a borough engineer from Alfred Benesch and Co. about the grant. The engineer was involved in a borough traffic study about 20 years ago.

“We made some changes based on the recommendations at that time,” Steigerwalt said of that study.

But since then, Steigerwalt said, much has changed.

“We may want to revisit having a traffic study to determine what would help with traffic issues,” he said. “It seems to us that the volume of traffic, particularly truck traffic and train traffic, has increased in recent years.”

Council authorized Steigerwalt and the borough engineer to fill out a pre-application scoping form.

If approved by PennDOT, a full application must be submitted by March 31.