A recent email from our state senator, Jake Corman, notified me that today, June 1, is the last day for us to get in our comments on funding options that the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation wants to use to fill our transportation funding gap. One of those funding options already received the necessary board approval back in November 2020, during the dark days of the pandemic.
The approval was to toll nine bridges on interstate highways around the state. Six of those will directly affect Happy Valley residents as we try to drive east, west or south from here (a map and details of the proposed toll bridges are on this webpage).
However, funding would be restored under a spending proposal made by Gov. Tom Wolf.
Awarded in November 2019, the Green Light-Go grant would have paid for the installation of preemption devices at eight downtown intersections. Affixed next to traffic signals, the devices look like small flood lights and can turn lights to green when they are triggered by strobe lights on approaching emergency vehicles.
âItâs definitely good technology to use and weâre always looking for equipment and technology advances to make our job safer and more efficient,â Lancaster city Fire Chief Scott Little said, noting the preemption devices improve response times and reduce accidents.
A 2.43-mile road preservation project on Route 283 in Mount Joy Township and Elizabethtown is scheduled to begin next month, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
Motorists driving along Route 3017 in Conestoga and Manor Townships will be detoured due to a bridge rehabilitation project beginning next month, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation announced.