The City of Williamsport is preparing to improve an old traffic signal at a busy intersection near UPMC and discussed the plan during its recent Committee of the Whole meeting.

It will be engineering services to design traffic signal improvements at Campbell and High streets, according to Bill Scott, city engineer.

This is for a new traffic signal at this intersection, which is an old signal and a top priority for improvement for Mayor Derek Slaughter and the administration.

“It is busy there and a high priority that needed to be replaced,” Scott said of the signal, one of the older ones in the city that he was told had been hit.

To pay for engineering, the city received a multi-modal grant from the state Department of Transportation (PennDOT).

This will include the new signal and the corners’ with changes satisfying the federal Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. These will be push buttons, crosswalks, and ramps.

The city received a proposal from Livic Civil, which has done prior similar work with the city, Scott noted.

Livic did the Hepburn and Little League Boulevard traffic signal improvement, which is still in the works, and to be built in the spring, according to Scott.

The Campbell and High streets’ proposal includes various tasks. The first is $5,000 for doing traffic counts to figure out the right timing. A second task is $15,000 for a traffic signal and design report. Task three is a survey for $8,000. The fourth task is a traffic signal design for $20,000 and the final task is for bidding and inspection for $25,000, for a total project of $73,000, Scott added.

“That is right in line with the cost estimate,” he said.

The design will take place over the remainder of this year with construction seen in 2027.

It takes time to design these traffic signals along with the PennDOT Highway Occupancy Permit (HOP) requirement.

The traffic signal discussion first took place this past week at the committee, and that led to a broader discussion on traffic signals and traffic improvements.

Councilwoman Liz Miele asked about the funding, specifically, as she learned there is a match for the grant.

This PennDOT grant requires a 30 % match.

“Our plan is to pay for the engineering,” Scott said.

The $121,731 match that the city Department of Community and Economic Development and Planning Department budgeted through the city finance department in anticipation of receiving the grant.

That is to be taken from the natural gas impact fee or (Act 13 funds), according to Jamie Livermore, city finance director.

The grant is listed under PennDOT Multimodal High Street/Campbell Street, according to Valerie Fessler, executive director of the city Community and Economic Development and Planning Department.

“I believe it is the current budget for Act 13,” Livermore said.

“Are we paying the full engineering cost, or are we submitting part?” Miele asked.

The grant will pay for 10 % of the engineering cost,” Scott said. The city will do 30 % and the grant will cover 80 % as we make the payments.

The action taken by council was to approve the resolution to hire Livic Civil for the engineering services.

“It evens out,” Fessler said.

Miele asked if the amount of money for the entire project, estimated at $522,000, will be sufficient to replace the signal.

“Fingers crossed.” Scott replied. “I don’t mean to sound smart about that but prices are going up everywhere,” he said, adding “signals are crazy pricing lately.”

Scott said the city is exploring other signals, such as the intersection of Third and Rose streets, as one intersection that might be placed under review as traffic is seen backing up at this location without a light.

Miele asked whether there might be traffic counts done at some intersections as a means of seeing whether one might be able to be decommissioned, or whether a stop sign would be sufficient. She clarified she was not asking for random traffic counts to be done but asking if the engineer had considered that possibility.

When data is collected in terms of traffic counts, she wanted to know whether it was not only timing tested but also the necessity of the signalization at the site.

The city does have a Safe Streets for All Grant, led by planner Scott Williams who is receiving input from Scott and Scott Livermore, director of public works.

Traffic counters can be purchased through the funding of the grant and the city may explore that option.

“We could be doing some of that work,” Fessler said.

Certainly having traffic counts around the city would be a positive thing for any Safe Streets initiative, Miele said.

Past ideas may also come into play

Several years ago, there were students from Lycoming College who helped do traffic counts at Market and Fourth and another downtown location. It was part of their classwork, Councilwoman Bonnie Katz said. The students volunteered their time and saved the city a ton of money and city officials were thankful and grateful for their effort, she said.

Miele said she believed most traffic counts nowadays are mechanized and digitized.

Miele, though, recalled when this was done ahead of the city trying to put two-way traffic at that block and the city failed, she said.

She also asked if the city controlled the speed of the signals citywide or if it is only on PennDOT streets.

“We are responsible to maintain them . . . we can’t go out and change timing,” Scott said, adding that would be for any signal in the city.