Edgewood receives $62K grant to make intersections safer

A $62,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will help Edgewood Borough improve safety at two busy intersections.

The project will look at the intersection of Maple Avenue and McKelvey Avenue, near the Parkway East exit at Wilkinsburg, as well as the Swissvale Avenue and Race Street intersection, near the Edgewood Borough building.

Both intersections are large and involve a multi-way stop signs that exclude one approach, according to the borough’s grant application.

Combined with “unique geometry” — the roads do not make neat, right-angle intersections — there’s often confusion over who has the right of way, the application said.

The route is often used by drivers trying to avoid west bound traffic on the Parkway East.

“As we know, we have a number of busy intersections in our community that we need to be looking at for safety improvements, not just for drivers, but pedestrians and others in the community as well,” state Rep. Summer Lee, D-Braddock, said in a statement. Edgewood is part of her district. “This grant will help Edgewood begin to address two of those intersections, and I am hopeful that we can look at others in the near future.”

The project budget includes about $17,000 to cover a traffic study, permits and a bid package, along with $45,000 for “low-cost” improvements, like signage, pavement markings, delineators or a modified island configuration.

Edgewood was one of 34 municipalities statewide and eight in Allegheny County — among them, Tarentum — to receive a grant. Funding comes from fines collected from automated red light violations at 31 intersections in Philadelphia and three in Abington Township, Montgomery County.