Left-Turn Arrow Coming to Borough Intersection

By July 2014 -- if not sooner -- a left-turn arrow will be installed at the intersection of S. Broad Street and Easton Road -- for motorists turning left onto Easton Road from S. Broad Street.

To fund the project, Nazareth Borough was awarded a $5,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation under the Automated Red Light Enforcement (ARLE) program.

The borough will pay about $6,175 to complete the project. After talks with PennDOT, however, that number may come in lower than $6,000, according to Aaron Sisler, the borough’s engineer.

The total cost of the project -- which would change the current three-light traffic signal to a five-light traffic signal -- is estimated at $11,175.

Paul Kokolus, the borough’s secretary / treasurer, applied for the grant in 2010 and it was awarded in July 2011.

According to Kokolus, grant money must be spent within three years of the award, which means the funds from the ARLE program must be spent by July 2014, if not sooner.

At this time, Kokolus said in an e-mail to Patch, there is no established time frame of when the left-turn arrow will be installed.

After the paperwork was completed, a traffic study had to follow, and Sisler is now ironing out the details with PennDOT.

During on March 29, Sisler said PennDOT had suggested that the borough replace all of the lights at the intersection.

Currently, each light is eight inches in diameter. The new standard is 12 inches, Sisler explained.

“They strongly recommend the borough replace all of the lights to the 12-inch diameter,” Sisler said at the workshop. “It’s a suggestion, not a requirement.”

According to Sisler, following PennDOT’s suggestion would add an extra $7,000 to the project’s total cost.

At Monday night, Vice President Larry Stoudt made a motion that would allow Sisler to tell PennDOT that the borough plans to stick to the original plan.

Stoudt said the borough would re-visit PennDOT’s suggestion at another time.