CRANBERRY TWP — Traffic signals along four major roads in the township are slated to change Wednesday, a move that could result in smoother traffic patterns for morning and afternoon commuters.

The signal changes, which will also occur in neighboring municipalities like Seven Fields, Adams Township and Marshall Township, will affect 34 intersections. The project was paid for by those municipalities and the Southwest Planning Commission.

The traffic light changes will include every intersection on Route 19 from Thorn Hill Road in Marshall Township to Rowan Road in Cranberry. It will also include every light on Route 228 from Route 19 to Heritage Creek in Adams Township.

The changes also will affect Freedom Road from Powell Road to Route 19, and Rochester Road from Haine School Road to Route 19.

Duane McKee, the assistant township manager for Cranberry Township, said the signal changes have been more than two years in the making.

They will officially occur Wednesday.

The township had to wait to implement the signal changes because of major projects like the newly-completed Interstate 79 ramps, improvements to the Route 19/Route 228 intersection and the Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School project.

McKee said the participating municipalities in the program paid 20 percent of the cost while SPC paid 80 percent of the cost. Cranberry’s portion of the project is $139,350, a sum based on the number of traffic signals in the township.

“We were initially in a holding pattern, waiting for those projects to finish,” McKee said. “We’ve spent the last couple months plugging the data into our (traffic management) computers, and we’re ready to go online.”

McKee, who will be just one of several township officials who will spend all day outside Wednesday monitoring various intersections, said motorists will hopefully notice the changes immediately.

Manager Jerry Andree said earlier this week that Cranberry continues to receive funding for infrastructure projects because of the success of past projects.

“They give us money and we produce,” Andree said.

Traffic management is a critical component of Cranberry’s government, he added, saying the rise in population and commercial businesses facilitates the need for constant changes.

“Our board has made it very clear that a priority is to manage our traffic as efficiently as possible in regards to travel times,” he said.

“We can’t keep adding pavement so we really have to find ways to move traffic as efficiently as possible using traffic signals.”

Seven Fields manager Tom Smith said Friday he’s happy the various municipalities could work together for the grant, but added the light syncing is a “short term fix for a long term problem” in terms of traffic congestion on Route 228.

“Have the municipalities work together in a collaborative effort is a positive,” Smith said. “But hopefully at some point the state has a realization that the expansion of Route 228 needs to take place. Our infrastructure is failing and the state has to realize that.”