Grant may help pay for traffic lights

WILLIAMSBURG — The Williamsburg City Council agreed last month to apply for a grant from the Iowa Department of Transportation next year for traffic lights.

Williamsburg City Manager Aaron Sandersfeld has been looking for a way to fix the traffic light at the intersection of Highway 149 and the Interstate 80 south ramp. The light was struck by lightening earlier this year.

The traffic light still works on timer, but the camera no longer senses traffic. Fixing the current camera system would cost about $2,500, Sandersfeld said.

Sandersfeld asked the DOT to allow the city to remove the traffic lights at the I-80 ramps and put up stop signs, which are inexpensive to maintain, but Sandersfeld has little hope that the DOT will approve.

A traffic study will show that the intersections have too much traffic for a stop sign, Sandersfeld said.

However, the DOT offers a grant that the city could use for traffic lights.

Engineering company HR Green told Sandersfeld that it could fill out the application for an IDOT State Traffic Engineering Program grant for $3,000 to $5,000, said Sandersfeld. The city could receive up to $60,000.

“That would be nice,” said Sandersfeld. He’d like to upgrade to a lights with a battery backup, he told the city council. “Right now they flash if they lose power,” he said.

The grant won’t be available until August, Sandersfeld said. Until then, the traffic light will operate on a timer.

The city council decided to reject a bid of $852,000 for the resurfacing of North Highland. The city thought the project would come in around $554,000, said Sandersfeld.

The city had budgeted $712,000 for the project to cover engineering and construction, but with the current bid — the only one the city received — the total bill for the project would be about $956,000, Sandersfeld said.

The council could pull the cost of a new traffic light from the project since the city is going to apply for a grant to pay for that, said Sandersfeld.

“I’d rather just put the whole project back out to bid,” said Councilman Tyler Marshall.

Sandersfeld said the city could change the scope of the project to make it cheaper, but past experience makes him reluctant to do so. “Last time it got bad in five years,” Sandersfeld said.

North Highland is the road the city spends the most time patching, said Sandersfeld. He’d rather spend the money to have it done right. “I expect that road to last longer than five years.”

Grant money the city received from East Central Iowa Council of Governments is good through 2026, said Sandersfeld, so the ECICOG will still be available if the city pushes the forward farther out.

“I’d like to see us shave the scope back a little bit,” said Marshall.

The city also has to find $125,000-$150,000 to move manholes for the IDOT I-80 bridge project. The city has no choice, said Sandersfeld. It has to find money to move something it didn’t plan to move.