Designs that have been over a year in the making for paving West Buchanan Street from Elm Grove Cemetery to Highway 1 will now be changed following feedback given to the Washington City Council.

The council approved removing the boulevard/median concept from the project Tuesday night after the Planning and Zoning Commission asked them to reconsider. City Engineering Tech/Safety Director Keith Henkel explained that the commission approached the development services department with concerns from agricultural citizens that equipment would not be able to fit in the lanes of traffic with the median. Henkel along with City Maintenance and Construction Superintendent JJ Bell and Engineer Jack Pope asked whether the council wants to move forward as planned, “I’ve talked to most of the homeowners down on Buchanan, securing temporary easements for the project. I can tell you there was not anyone who I spoke to who was in favor of it. They all know that the road is going in, they’ve all accepted that the road is going in, but every single person down there asked me why there is a boulevard going there.”

Bell was concerned with how snow plows would navigate the road with the medians, and Pope shared that in removing the medians the total project savings would be $60,000, with the city’s actually being $12,000 due to the Iowa Department of Transportation funding 80% of the project. Council members Danielle Pettit-Majewski and Fran Stigers questioned why the boulevards were proposed in the first place, and why staff’s concerns weren’t voiced earlier. The project changes are now being sent to the DOT for approval to then discuss with the contractor. DeLong Construction was awarded the bid of $1,714,667 in July, about $400,000 under the engineer’s estimate.