City to find $36k for A Street traffic light
Jul. 15—The City of Meridian will need to find an additional $36,000 after the city council agreed to install a new traffic light at the corner of 22nd Avenue and A Street.
The light, which is part of the Sela Ward Parkway rehabilitation project, was removed from the design due to potential traffic flow issues. The city council voted in May to put the light back in after hearing concerns from residents and business owners.
In a work session Tuesday, Neel-Schaffer engineer Gabe Faggard, who is serving as project manager for the Sela Ward Parkway project, told the board increases in supply costs would add an additional $36,000 to the cost of the traffic signal.
"The council ordered, back about a month ago, the traffic signal be installed there," he said. "So I went back to the contractor and said the city desired we put it in. He went and got quotes for the traffic signal poles, signal heads, controller cabinets, all of those items, and the price was around $172,000 and now those costs are round $208,000."
The city's initial contract, Faggard said, included the $170,000 for the A Street traffic light, but the contractor was asking the city to cover the increase in costs.
"We will pay them for the original contract amount, but they're asking for an additive to cover the additional expenses," he said.
Faggard said a change order would be presented to the city council at its next meeting to approve paying the additional cost. Once approved, he said, the contractor would place the order for the traffic signal.
Sela Ward Project Moves Forward
Work on the $4 million revitalization project on Sela Ward Parkway is moving forward, Faggard said. For the past several weeks construction crews have been drilling holes for traffic signal poles to go into.
"They've installed the foundation to Village Fair, three out of four at E Street, all at C Street, they're working on B Street now, and then they'll hit A Street next," he said.
Once poles are placed for traffic signals, Faggard said concrete crews will come back and put the finishing touches on the intersections.
