The Marion City Council last week approved bids for traffic signalization projects that were awarded federal stimulus dollars last year.

At its meeting last Thursday, February 4, the council approved City Wide Construction's $371,360.20 bid for installing stoplights at the intersection of South 22nd St. and Hwy. 100, as well as Rathje Construction's $479,740.92 bid for traffic signals at the future intersection of Hwy. 100 and Armar Dr.

Combined, the bids came out at just over $851,000, barely surpassing the $850,000 the federal government awarded the city for the two projects last March as part of the $360 million in stimulus funding it gave to the Iowa Department of Transportation.

The city also received $1.325 million for the planned extension of 35th St. and $1.23 million for the reconstruction of North 10th St. Both of the projects had bids approved last month, and work is expected to commence on them this spring.

The bids for the signalization projects had to be approved at last Thursday's meeting, in order to meet the federal government's required schedule for receiving the funds.