Buckingham Secures Traffic Light Grant

PennDOT has awarded Buckingham Township a $26,950 grant to upgrade its traffic-controlling system, making it more energy efficient and improving traffic flow through a heavily used intersection.

The money will be used to replace the incandescent bulbs in a handful of traffic lights with LED ones, as well as pay for a video motion sensor device that controls traffic flow at Route 413 and Cold Spring Creamery Road.

The township applied for the grant last fall and was notified it secured the funding in April.

The LED upgrades, which use less electricity, are to be installed at five intersections: Route 202 and Penn’s Purchase, Route 202 and Street Road, Mechanicsville Road and Route 413, Route 202 and Holicong Road and Route 202 and Quarry Road.

They also will be placed in lights in three school zones in the township: Buckingham Friends, Buckingham Elementary School and Cold Spring Elementary School.

The motion sensor controlling the flow of traffic is much easier to maintain than a standard loop sensor, said Dan Gray, township engineer.

With loop sensors, a magnetic strip is embedded in the roadway and perceives traffic waiting at a light. Gray said that that system tends to break down because of weather conditions – freezing and thawing – and township crews have to go out every few years to fix problems.

With the video motion sensors, calibration is much easier since they sit on the mast arms of the traffic lights and can be adjusted accordingly.

Supervisors’ Chairman Jon Forest said most recently there was a problem with the left-turn signal at routes 263 and 413. PennDOT came out and re-calibrated the set-up to let more cars through. “That eliminated a lot of the traffic problems,” he said.

Traffic lights with LED bulbs have been known to suffer from snow buildup during winter, because the bulbs don’t burn as hot as incandescent ones. Some traffic accidents around the country have been blamed on lights that became obscured by snow and ice.

One resident asked if the township had considered installing heaters to ward off similar dangers.

But Buckingham has had LED traffic lights for the past six years, said Gray, and officials continue to monitor them during winter storms. So far, no problems have been reported, he said.

“If we need to do something, we will,” he said.

Gray noted that the township also gets a rate reduction from PECO if the energy-saving LED lights are installed.