Two of the busiest intersections in Fort Dodge may get a makeover that includes new lights, landscaping and sculptures.
The junctions of Eighth Street and Fifth Avenue South and U.S. Highway 169 and Kenyon Road may get those improvements in the next phase of a major push to upgrade the main entry corridors of the city.
The price tag of the intersection jobs has been estimated at $825,000.
The City Council will review the plans during a workshop that will begin at 6 p.m. Monday in the Municipal Building, 819 First Ave. S.
If the council approves the plans, construction could begin this year, with additional landscaping to be done in the spring of 2009.
Plans for the intersections were completed by Howard R. Green Co., of Cedar Rapids.
Jim Harbaugh, a landscape architect and project manager for that company, said the plan for Eighth Street and Kenyon Road includes ''aesthetic lighting'' and pedestrian plazas on three sides of the intersection.
The plaza at the south side of the intersection - the one facing southbound drivers on Eighth Street - would feature a sculpture. The council will consider accepting a sculpture for the site from the Catherine Vincent Deardorf Charitable Foundation on Monday.
''This is a precedent-setter,'' Harbaugh said of the Eighth Street and Fifth Avenue South proposal.
The concept for Kenyon Road and U.S. Highway 169 features landscaping and limestone sculptures on all four sides of the intersection. Harbaugh said additional landscaping may be done around the Union Pacific Railroad bridge south of the intersection.
The corridor master plan was completed by Short Elliott Hendrickson of Minneapolis, Minn., earlier this year. Howard R. Green Co. was then hired to turn the master plan into blueprints that can be used for construction.
Trees were planted along Kenyon Road between the bridge and U.S. Highway 169 as the first step to fulfilling the plan.
The upcoming construction of a new First State Bank building at the corner of Fifth Avenue South and 31st Street is also considered by city leaders to be a part of the corridor improvements.
Contact Bill Shea at (515) 573-2141 or bshea@messengernews.net