Pocono News Section

More L.E.D. Traffic Lights Coming to Central PA

More L.E.D. Traffic Lights Coming to Central PA - Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 5:30PM EST

Reported by: Jeremy Deebel
Wednesday, Mar 26, 2008 @05:30pm EST
Mahoning Township, Montour County- A project is underway in Central Pennsylvania to make traffic lights more energy efficient, with taxpayers hopefully reaping the benefits in the long run.

We’re talking about traffic signals that use Light Emitting Diode, or L.E.D. technology. PennDOT Traffic Control Specialist Matt Swartz said, "They're much brighter, more visible to the traveling public, which hopefully, in turn, makes it a safer intersection for everyone."

He says the new lights are also easy to install. "It's basically removing the old equipment, replacing new equipment with the sealed L.E.D. indication, so they're saying 15 minutes approximately, per signal head," Swartz added.

Fears about the uncapping of electricity rates in 2010 have many local municipalities looking for ways to cut costs on utility bills wherever possible. Megan Epler, an energy reduction specialist with SEDA-COG, says L.E.D. traffic signals are a great place to start. Epler said, "L.E.D. technology is incredibly energy efficient. It reduces energy use by 85-90% over incandescent lighting. And typically you see about an 80% reduction in your energy bills."

Some local cities and towns have already made the switch to L.E.D. technology, such as in Williamsport, at a cost of roughly $3000 per intersection. It's money they expect to get back within about three years, due to reduced energy bills.

But many smaller boroughs and townships are struggling to make the transition due to lack of funding or technical expertise. So SEDA-COG and PennDOT are co-hosting workshops over the next two weeks, such as this one in Mahoning Township, urging local elected officials to join a bulk purchasing plan. "We're going to make one bulk purchase on behalf of the municipalities, which will significantly reduce the capital costs of the equipment," Ms. Epler explained.

SEDA-COG will also provide partial funding reimbursement, and PennDOT is offering free technical assistance, to the communities in SEDA-Cog's 11-county region that join the bulk purchase, scheduled for July of this year, with installation to be completed by September.

More than half of the intersections with signals in the region have already been converted over to L.E.D. lights.