New traffic signals and left-turn lanes will be added to that intersection and the one a block away at 15th Street and First Avenue South next year.

Those two intersections will be rebuilt as part of a project that will also include adding a center turn lane on First Avenue South, plus other pavement repairs.

The job is estimated to cost $3.4 million.

The city government has received two state grants to help pay for the work.

A $500,000 grant is for the work at First Avenue South and 15th Street, while a $370,000 grant is for the work at Central Avenue and 15th Street. Both grants came from the state Department of Transportation’s Traffic Safety Improvement Program.

Bids from contractors interested in doing the work will be sought early next year. Construction is expected to start in April and continue through November.

Improving safety at the two intersections is the major reason for doing the project, according to City Engineer Tony Trotter.

“Safety is the big driver,” he said.

He said that in terms of the total number of crashes, seven of the 10 worst intersections in the city are on 15th Street.

“This is going to improve that traffic safety,” he said.

The project will be going on throughout the entire 2019 construction season, and Trotter urged drivers to “be patient with it.”

“In the end, we’re going to have two much safer intersections,” he said.

Both intersections will not be closed at the same time, according to John Haldeman, a civil engineer with Snyder & Associates, of Ankeny, who helped design the project.

The Fort Dodge Fire Department is located in the middle of what will be a major construction zone. The address of the firehouse is 1515 Central Ave., but the fire trucks and ambulances come out onto 15th Street between Central Avenue and First Avenue South.

Haldeman said firefighters will always have the option of responding through Central Avenue and 15th Street or First Avenue South and 15th Street because one of those intersections will always remain open.

Here are the major components of the upcoming project.

Central Avenue and 15th Street

• Creation of left-turn lane, right-turn lane and a lane for traffic going straight ahead on each side of the intersection.

• New traffic signals

First Avenue South and 15th Street

• Creation of left turn lane, right turn lane and a lane for traffic going straight ahead on each side of the intersection.

• New traffic signals.

15th Street between Central Avenue and First Avenue South

• New pavement

First Avenue South between 14th and 15th

• Repave or possible complete reconstruction of the street, depending on bid prices

First Avenue South east of 15th

• Concrete patch repairs in multiple locations.

• Elimination of on-street parking.

• Creation of a center turn lane.

South 16th Street between First Avenue South and Central Avenue

• New sanitary sewer and water main

• Reconstruction of street

• New sidewalk on west side of street