Improvements planned at Austintown intersection

AUSTINTOWN -- A high-accident intersection is scheduled for a $250,000 traffic signal improvement late next year or early in 2008.
Cameras are to be installed to govern the changing of signals at Four Mile Run Road and Mahoning Avenue based on the traffic the cameras observe, explained Jack Krompegel, traffic engineer with the Mahoning County engineer's office.
Similar cameras have already been installed at several key intersections along Shields Road at Tippecanoe Road, Sheban Drive and West Boulevard. "It seems to move the traffic very well, so we're going to apply what we did there to Four Mile and Mahoning," he said of the camera technology.
New, larger and more visible traffic lights with higher contrast will also be installed at the Austintown intersection, said Mahoning County Engineer Richard Marsico. The present signals there are difficult for motorists to see during the spring and fall equinoxes, when the sun rises and sets due east and west, respectively, along the alignment of Mahoning Avenue, Marsico said.
Eighty percent of the project cost will be paid for with federal highway dollars, with the 20 percent local match to come from county funds.