Action to repaint the intersection at First and Willis avenues began Monday morning in downtown, perfectly timed with the concerns for the safety of the cross streets voiced by Perry resident John Perdue at the Aug. 6 meeting of the Perry City Council.
Rex Allen, district four traffic technician with the Iowa DOT, told Perdue in a late-July communication that his office “plans to repaint the existings markings as they are wearing down,” and the department made good on that promise Monday morning by applying fresh paint.
ThePerryNews.com reported Perdue’s remarks Tuesday, and a Des Moines television station followed up on the report Wednesday.
“Channel 5 literally had nothing to do with them getting it done,” said Perry City Administrator Sven Peterson, and the same could probably be said about ThePerryNews.com report.
Perry City Clerk Paula Rychnovsky said the fresh markings were vivid as she viewed them from her office in the Perry City Hall.
“Oh, my, those are bright,” Rychnovsky said. “They haven’t done the one with the arrow that goes north that divides the lanes. The arrow is there, but the ones that divide the lanes, they have not done that yet. I don’t know if they were planning on that or not.”
The DOT painters refreshed the lines north and south of Willis Avenue.
“Oh, here they come back,” she said a few moments later. “I think they’re going to make a circle and come back.”
The road work is expected to be completed Monday.
The Perry City Council approved the redesign of the intersection of Iowa Highway 144 and Willis Avenue in October 2015. The $380,000 project was completely paid for with state-administered U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) money in the Traffic Safety Improvement Program.
In another improvement of the area, the slant parking along First Avenue in front of Wil-Do Cleaners and Frio Ice Cream has been made safer by the placing of curb stones along the sidewalk. The stones had previously lined the south wall of the ice cream store.
