Schoenersville Road Traffic Light Woes Continue

The traffic light at Schoenersville Road and Route 22 west that has troubled the city's electrical bureau since Dec. 8 started malfunctioning again on Saturday.

By Sunday, the problem was worse than it had been when it blinked yellow for traffic on Schoenersville Road and red for traffic exiting Route 22 coming from the east.

The light went completely black, with no signal for any motorist rolling through that intersection. That problem persisted into this morning, though city Public Works Director Mike Alkhal said the light has again been fixed. Temporarily.

With no expectation this time that the control cabinet that controls signal function will continue to work, city street crews have made definitive plans to replace it on Wednesday, Alkhal said.

Last Monday, city crews planned to replace the cabinet on Wednesday if they could not figure out what was causing a malfunction that made the light default to blinking yellow and red cautions.

"They thought they figured out what the problem was," Alkhal said. "Now, they've figured out once and for all that they can't fix it on site. They've officially given up on it."

On Tuesday, the city electrical department will prepare the new cabinet for installation, which will come on Wednesday. New electrical cabinets for traffic lights cost about $20,000, though the city does keep a few spares in its shop.

The cause of this malfunction remains elusive. Every time one electrical board was replaced, something else in the cabinet would go wrong, Alkhal said. One theory has been advanced.

"What I've been told is that cabinet has been struck by lightning about 15 times," Alkhal said.

In the meantime, it is advised to use caution through that intersection if the light should stop working again. If the light should go completely dark, state law is that motorists treat it like an intersection with a four-way stop sign, Alkhal said.