Summit County has been awarded a $2 million federal grant for traffic signal upgrades at 36 intersections between North Revere Road and downtown Akron, according to a November 12, 2026, announcement from U.S. Representative Emilia Sykes.
Sykes’ office said the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded the Safe Streets for All grant for the county’s Criminal Justice Fiber Ring Adaptive Signalization Project. November 12, 2026, is the announcement and release date, not a separately established date for the grant award or construction.
What would change at intersections
According to the release, the technology will allow traffic signals to adjust to changing traffic conditions, give emergency vehicles more time to move through intersections and help buses stay on schedule. Those are planned capabilities, not results already demonstrated by the project.
In remarks included in the release, Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro said the project would use the Summit Connects fiber infrastructure to improve traffic flow and give emergency vehicles a clearer path through intersections.
The safety baseline—and what comes next
The congressional office reported 4,210 crashes along the corridor between 2019 and 2023, including 12 fatalities and 58 suspected serious injuries. Those figures describe that five-year period, not current-year crash totals or a measured effect of the new grant.
The project will also include safety reviews, engineering and environmental planning, and opportunities for community input, according to the announcement. The release does not provide a construction timetable, list the 36 intersections individually or specify when residents can participate in public input.
Source: U.S. Representative Emilia Sykes’ announcement, November 12, 2026. Grant details, planned capabilities and the crash baseline above are attributed to that release.
Archive/context image: Exchange Street looking toward Main Street in Akron, May 10, 2013; not project work or a verified funded intersection. Photo: Nyttend via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Cropped, brightened, resized and archive-labeled by ThinBlueNews. No endorsement implied.
