Council Considers Road Improvements

The City Council was expected to authorize City Manager Mike Sedell to solicit bids for nearly $1.3 million in road improvements and award a separate $61,000 contract for construction of a traffic signal at Royal Avenue and El Monte Drive.

Improvements include widening the intersections at 1st Street and Los Angeles Avenue and at Cochran Street and Sycamore Drive to allow for additional turning lanes.

Though the council typically is financially conservative, it spends taxpayer money on projects and items that are basic necessities, Councilwoman Barbra Williamson said before Monday night’s meeting. Providing for public safety and public roads are two of the most necessary government functions, she said.

“I’m very, very happy with the way this city keeps up its roads,” she said.

Both Mayor Bill Davis and Williamson said the city needs to tackle such projects before there are traffic problems.

“You don’t wait until [the problems are] such a magnitude that you can’t get in front of them,” Williamson said.

The improvements to the intersection of Cochran Street and Sycamore Drive will add three turning lanes, and improvements to the corner of 1st Street and Los Angeles Avenue will create five additional turning lanes.

Construction on the two projects is scheduled to begin in late April.

The council was also set to award a bid for construction of a traffic signal at Royal Avenue and El Monte Drive and the modification of the traffic signal at Cochran Street and Erringer Road to Taft Electric Co. Ventura.

At $61,156, the Taft bid was significantly lower than other proposals, which came in at $87,906 and $90,001. The city had estimated the work’s cost at $82,000.