Franklin supervisors review traffic signal agreement
FRANKLIN TWP. – A maintenance agreement for new and renovated traffic signals, which are part of a planned Route 21 improvement project, has been reviewed and will be forwarded to the Department of Transportation, township officials said Monday. Reed Kiger, chairman of the supervisors, said the township’s solicitor reviewed the agreement and the supervisors will forward it to PennDOT with one correction, stating the county – not the township – owns the light at the Progress Drive intersection.
The supervisors approved the agreement subject to the solicitor’s review at the April meeting.
Kiger said the agreement will be sent to PennDOT today.
The agreement requires the township to pay for maintenance and the electric bills for four new traffic lights that are included in the improvement project, which also involves adding lanes at five intersections.
The signal at Progress Drive is one of four that will be renovated in the project, which will start in the fall.
Signals at School Drive/Jefferson Road, Elm Drive and Miller Drive will also be renovated.
New signals will be installed at the Route 19 and Murtha Drive intersections, and the Interstate 79 northbound and southbound ramps.
Murtha Drive will be slightly less than a mile long when it is constructed from Route 21 to Rolling Meadow Road.
The Waynesburg Crossings, which will feature a Wal-Mart Supercenter and has acreage available for other development, is planned for Murtha Drive.
A 750-foot section of Route 21 at Murtha Drive will be expanded to four lanes.
Route 19 will receive an additional inbound and outbound lane at the Route 21 intersection.
Turning lanes will be added at the I-79 ramps and Elm Drive will receive an additional lane on both sides of Route 21.
In unrelated business, the supervisors unanimously approved a storm water management plan submitted by Geo Associates Inc., an auto sales and equipment rental business, for a lot between the Sheets and the Greene County Fairgrounds.
The supervisors also reminded residents that the township building will be the polling place for the Franklin east voting precinct for an election for the first time since the old township building was destroyed in a fire on Dec. 27, 2004.
Voting machines will be placed in the supervisors’ meeting room for the upcoming May 16 primary.
Franklin east is the largest and most populated of the four precincts in the township, supervisors said.