An ADA upgrade to traffic signals on First Avenue East in Newton will be delayed. The Iowa Department of Transportation has awarded the city a Traffic Safety Improvement Program grant to pay the entire cost of installing ADA signals with audible sound and pedestrian count-down heads at five intersections, but the two bids the city received were more than two and three times the estimated $102,420 cost. Newton City Council members rejected both bids this week, and Public Works Director Joe Grife will rebid the project without some extras that were added.

“There’s added equipment we put in during the project’s design. So after rejecting all bids we will redesign the project, paring it down and going with a more bare bones project that will get us closer to the grant amount.”

Grife says the added equipment included battery back-ups and some camera detection, which could be added later if needed.