After years of delays and debate, partial funding has been secured for a traffic signal at a busy intersection near a Lehighton Area School District campus that was originally supposed to be installed when the district’s elementary center was built.

Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon, and Sen. Dave Argall, R-Carbon/Schuylkill/Luzerne, announced that the Lehighton School District received a $230,000 grant through PennDOT’s Automated Red Light Enforcement program to install a traffic signal at the South Ninth Street and Bridge Street intersection.

The funding will also pay to repaint the intersection to create northbound and southbound left-turn lanes and add Americans with Disabilities Act pedestrian accommodations.

“This intersection has become a safety concern for many residents in the area,” Heffley said. “I’m happy the funding was secured to install a traffic signal and make improvements that will help protect drivers and pedestrians.”

“I am pleased that the Lehighton Area School District has secured this important funding to address longstanding safety concerns at this intersection,” Argall said.

The grant announcement comes as district officials work to finalize plans and obtain cost estimates for the project. During a December school board meeting, board members and administrators discussed the ongoing coordination with PennDOT.

Superintendent Jason Moser emphasized the district is not holding up the traffic signal project and is focused on getting a finalized plan to determine the actual cost, which several years ago was estimated to be close to $1 million.

“I’ll be honest, I’m annoyed with the lack of clarity and expediency from the state itself,” Moser said in December.

The traffic signal has been a point of contention between the school district and Lehighton Borough for more than seven years. The elementary center opened between 2017 and 2018, and the traffic signal was a requirement for the building’s certificate of occupancy.

“The elementary center was built, and it was a requirement of the building certificate of occupancy to have the traffic signal installed at Bridge and Ninth Street through PennDOT’s recommendation,” said Lehighton Borough Councilwoman Autumn Abelovsky at the December school board meeting. “The borough graciously gave a temporary certificate of occupancy so that the students could go back to school because we never foresaw that it would be held up this long.”

According to a memorandum of understanding signed in June 2017 as an addendum to the district’s land development agreement for the elementary center, the school district accepted responsibility for constructing a traffic signal at the intersection when and if PennDOT deemed it necessary.

After the temporary certificate of occupancy expired, the borough issued a permanent certificate in January 2022 with a separate agreement for the traffic signal. The school board approved an agreement acknowledging the district’s responsibility to pay for the signal if one were installed.

Under the 2017 memorandum, the district was required to place $10,000 in an escrow account at a bank chosen by the borough. The borough would draw from that account to pay for electricity, operation, maintenance, repair, restoration and replacement of the signal. After the $10,000 was spent, all future costs would fall on the borough.

Safety concerns at the intersection have mounted over the years. Abelovsky noted that accidents at the intersection have been growing exponentially.

“You can ask the chief of police for documentation on this — the amount of accidents that are occurring at that intersection are growing exponentially year after year after year,” she said. “I know it’s annoying, it’s going to cost more money, but this is a safety issue. It needs to happen.”

Pennsylvania’s ARLE program aims to improve safety at intersections with traffic signals by providing automated enforcement at locations where data shows red-light running has been an issue. Grant funding is supplied by fines from red light violations at intersections in Philadelphia. State law specifies that projects improving safety, enhancing mobility and reducing congestion can be considered for funding.