Wilkins residents and visitors can expect positive changes on roadways this year, thanks to a decades-old plan coming to fruition and unexpected funding for paving projects.

Earlier this month, the township installed Opticom, a traffic-control system designed by 3M to aid emergency responders, in its emergency vehicles and inside traffic signals on Route 22.

The system connects components inside township vehicles with devices attached to traffic lights so that a traffic signal will turn green for a vehicle that is responding to an emergency.

Township property manager Leonard Hill said the system was a long time coming because efforts to install it have been under way for at least "a quarter-century."

He said the system will make the township safer for emergency responders and residents.

"If you're coming down the hill going southbound on Route 22, there's quite a sharp bend to the left," he said. "If you're coming to Monroeville, you can't see traffic.

"This way you won't see just the units, you'll see the lights."

Commissioner Paul Padula added: "It's also going to allow [emergency responders] to get through without having to sit in traffic."

Mr. Padula credited funding from the state, which allowed the township to install LED lights required to run the system, for finally getting the effort off the ground. But funding to pave township roads came as the result of cost savings from budget expenditures.

The township approved the purchase of 730 tons of salt at $42.49 per ton, leaving about $45,000 from the budgeted amount.

Wilkins also realized a surprising decrease in workers' compensation payments, which left an additional $75,000 to transfer to previously unfunded paving projects.

The $120,000 windfall will not fund paving for all of the township's roads, and commissioners must vote to decide which roads will be funded.

Commissioner Michael Szoko cast the only vote against transferring the additional funds to the road-paving projects because he said he wanted the township to save a portion of the money.

"Take half and put [it] in the emergency contingency fund to cover ourselves instead of putting all of our eggs in one basket," he said.

Commissioner Sharyn Fialla voted to transfer the funds, but expressed similar concerns before her vote.

"With this economy right now, I get a little nervous we don't have any liquidity," she said.

But Mr. Padula pointed out that waiting to pave will make roads worse and increase expenses in the long run.

"We [didn't do any] paving all last year," he said.

"We may not be able to do all the streets needed, but it's going to save us more in the long run."