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City Council approves emergency contract for repair of traffic signal

January 23, 2002
Santa Paula City Council

Santa Paula commuters will be glad to see that the traffic signal at the intersection of Palm Avenue and Main Street - which was out of commission for weeks and was blinking red - is being permanently fixed after the City Council at the Jan. 7 declared an emergency.

By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesSanta Paula commuters will be glad to see that the traffic signal at the intersection of Palm Avenue and Main Street - which was out of commission for weeks and was blinking red - is being permanently fixed after the City Council at the Jan. 7 declared an emergency.The intersection at Palm Avenue and Main Street is a busy one and considered a main artery in city traffic flow. Although only two lanes with left turn pockets, the intersection also has a detour lane for turning right onto Main Street from Palm Avenue.According to the report by Public Works Director-City Engineer Norm Wilkinson, after the traffic signal bellied up in November city staff learned that replacement cabinet parts, specifically the controller which was causing the outage, is no longer available.A temporary controller was installed but is “not satisfactory in the long term,” noted Wilkinson. “. . .staff has safety concerns due to the jury rig nature of the installation,” and it must be replaced as soon as possible. Subsequently, staff shortened the usual bid procedures and confined bids to two contractors.
The signal’s new controller will allow state-of-the-art LED lights to be used in the unit; LED lights are replacing signals throughout the city, an effort funded by local transportation funds and Southern California Edison rebates.Peek Services - USA (Signal Maintenance, Inc.) of Anaheim offered the winning bid of $13,646; the company is already under contract with the city for signal maintenance.The second contractor bid $21,072, not including expediting costs to fast track the work.