CRANBERRY TWP — Supervisors approved a purchase for replacement design services for the Route 19 emergency signal during a meeting on Thursday, Oct. 3.

Township supervisors agreed to pay Whitman, Requardt & Associates $34,600 to begin the process of replacing the flashing emergency signal, which sits directly in front of the fire station on Route 19.

“It is a very old signal,” said chairman Mike Manipole. “I’m very worried about its functioning, and it’s time to replace it.”

The signal’s purpose is to alert oncoming traffic of fire trucks leaving the station, but it recently stopped functioning properly and no longer turns the signals along Route 19 red.

“The computer that controls it needs to be updated,” said township manager Dan Santoro. “That whole signal needs to be ... brought up to the latest technology.”

Santoro said approving the design services is the first step in a longer process, and the project most likely won’t be completed before the end of the year.

“This was just the design piece for the engineer,” he said. “We have to submit a permit application to PennDOT in order to rebuild it. It’s doubtful it will be done before the end of the year. It’ll take a month or two to get the design done, and then ... we’ll have to go out for a public bid and have contractors bid on that work.”