When the community cried out in 2022 to Penn Township leadership following a fatal crash at the intersection of Airport Road and Route 8, its elected officials did what they are meant to do: They listened.

Supervisor Sam Ward didn’t need a study to tell him the intersection of Airport Road and Route 8 in Penn Township was dangerous.

He knew.

He told us in an August 2022 interview that while he had heard of many crashes there, he too had been in a crash once at the notorious intersection. Ward also said, at that time, the main problem is people speeding through the red light and driving too fast.

Still, the supervisors ventured to wonder: What could they do?

The township, he said in 2022, had tried for grants without success, but now, just over two years later, work is set to begin today, Dec. 4, weather-permitting, at the intersection — and the work has been supported by grants.

We reported the township received an Automated Red Light Enforcement grant award of just under $450,000 from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, and other opportunities have helped the township with its local match for that grant.

The revamped intersection will feature a new traffic signal, new left-turn lanes, pedestrian crossings and improved lighting.

And this project begins prior to the end of 2024, despite a delay in the arrival of the poles for the traffic signal.

— TL