And a lot more could be changing with a controversial plan to configure that street between Second Avenue North and 20th Avenue North.

During a City Council workshop Monday evening, there was much discussion about completing two elements of the proposal: rebuilding the intersection of Second Avenue North and North 15th Street and replacing the traffic lights at the intersections with Sixth and Seventh avenues north.

The council made no decisions Monday. Following the meeting, Mayor Matt Bemrich said the proposal will now move into “a final refinement” so that Snyder and Associates, the engineering firm working on the plans, can be given definitive instructions.

Bemrich said he sees no support for adding marked bike lanes on North 15th Street. But he said there is broad support for rebuilding the intersection of Second Avenue North and 15th Street.

He said the proposal will be on the council agenda again next month.

As introduced in May, the project had these major elements:

• Reconfiguring the street from four lanes to three lanes between Second and 20th avenues north.

• Rebuilding the intersection of Second Avenue North and 15th Street.

• Concrete patching between Third Avenue North and Floral Avenue.

• Repaving between the bridge over Soldier Creek and 20th Avenue North.

• Installing new traffic lights.

• Marking the street to provide northbound and southbound bike lanes.

• Removing some trees to improve visibility.

The project has a $4.75 million price tag. About $2.25 million of the money would come from the state, with the rest coming from the city.

Bike lanes were not included in any of the material presented during Monday’s council workshop, and it seems unlikely that any of the elected officials will seek to have them put back into the plan.

Former Councilman Kelly Hindman told the elected officials that he believes if the project is done in its entirety it would indeed reduce crashes on that stretch of road. But he noted that there have been no fatal accidents on the road in the last decade. Nor have there been any crashes over the last 10 years that resulted in serious injuries, he said. Therefore, he questioned the use of nearly $5 million in “scarce dollars” to prevent what would be essentially fender bender crashes.

Hindman said he believes the overhaul of Second Avenue North and North 15th Street “needs to be done for sure.”

He also defended the engineering staff of Snyder and Associates, which is based in Ankeny and has an office in Fort Dodge.

“They were asked to do a job, and they did it,” Hindman said. “You’re screaming at the wrong people if you’re screaming at them.”

Reconfiguring the intersection of Second Avenue North and North 15th Street has always been a non-controversial element of the proposal.

“It makes perfect sense that all four sides of that intersection will have the same pattern — a right lane, a center lane and a left lane,” Councilman Cameron Nelson said.

A total of 13 people addressed the council on Monday and many of them said they were in favor of the intersection work.

Tom Hemann, of Miller Drive, said he believes the majority of Fort Dodge residents would agree that the intersection job needs to be done.

The intersection work has an estimated cost of $2,620,000. The city received $2 million from the state Department of Transportation specifically for the intersection job.

While consensus is emerging on the intersection work, the most controversial element of the plan — reducing the street from four lanes to three lanes — remains a topic for debate.

Phil Gunderson, whose home and business, Gunderson Funeral Home and Cremation Services, are in the 1600 block of North 15th Street, told the council that the switch would lead to more traffic congestion.

“One size doesn’t fit all and the three-lane doesn’t fit North 15th Street,” he said.