State College, SCASD to Conduct Traffic Study for Signal at High School Campus

State College Borough and State College Area School District will fund a traffic study to explore adding left turn traffic signals at the main exits from the high school campus on Westerly Parkway.

The school board on Monday night voted unanimously to approve funding half of the estimated $9,950 study cost. The borough will fund the other half.

SCASD and State College officials met in January to discuss the issue after the district received concerns about the difficulty of turning left onto Westerly Parkway from the north and south campuses during peak traffic hours at the start and close of the school day, according to a memo from Mike Fisher, director of the office of physical plant.

Four-way traffic lights were installed at the intersection in 2018 as part of the new high school building project at a cost of $242,000 but they do not have left turn arrows.

A suggested solution to the traffic issue is to add a traffic signal for the turn lanes to allow vehicles to turn left onto Westerly from the north and south access points, Fisher wrote. He added during Monday night’s school board meeting that the study will look at the entire intersection, including whether left turn signals are needed from Westerly into the north and south campuses.

Stahl Shaeffer Engineering will conduct the study, which will include turning movement counts, traffic analysis, a traffic signal construction plan and a traffic signal permit plan.

Board member Gretchen Brandt said students in particular have expressed concerns about the intersection and that she first heard about the issue at a student meeting.

“I was at the safety table and it was just student after student after student that came to the table and talked about this,” Brandt said. “[They] told me they had written a petition and they seemed very well organized. Any time I hear a student say ‘what we say doesn’t matter,’ this is now on the agenda. So thank you to those students and know that your voices really do matter.”

Board Vice President Amy Bader said the study is an investment by both the district and the borough “to make sure we can get this as safe as possible.”

“For student drivers that’s really important that intersection be simple to navigate,” Bader said.