First step taken toward new light at Route 8 and Airport Road
PENN TWP — The wheels are in motion for a new light and intersection upgrade at Route 8 and Airport Road.
Township supervisors Tuesday approved advertising for bids for engineering firms to design a safer intersection.
The intersection has been the site of several traffic accidents — some involving fatalities or serious injuries.
Linda Zerfoss, township manager, announced the township did not receive the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission grant she applied for to pay an engineering firm to redesign the intersection.
Sam Ward, supervisors chairman, said the township will pay for the design of the intersection once bids come in and an engineering firm is approved.
He said the township applied for an Automated Red Light Enforcement Transportation Enhancements Grant from the state Department of Transportation to pay for the upgrade work at the intersection.
Zerfoss said she plans to apply for a Green Light Go grant from PennDOT as well.
“We are going to apply for every grant that becomes available for that (intersection),” Ward said.
He added that the bid documents to be advertised for the project’s design call for the intersection to be completed by 2024.
“This is our No. 1 priority,” Ward said.
He hopes to add a traffic light with turning arrows and new signs at the intersection, where a well-known Realtor Ed Shields was killed in June and a young couple suffered life-altering injuries three years ago.
The supervisors noted that the Municipal Water Authority of Adams Township soon will begin work to extend the water line they placed from Route 228 in Middlesex Township to the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport this spring.
The extension will continue the line north to Larchwood Drive off Route 8.
Ward said many businesses have tapped into the new waterline, and supervisor Doug Roth said he expects service to be expanded to residential areas of the township.
Property owners would not be required to tap in if waterlines are extended into their neighborhoods, Ward said.
