MARSHALL — Last month, the Marshall City Council heard a request to make changes to Third Street downtown — including the possibility of removing the stoplight at Third and Main Street. City council members say they’ve heard public feedback against the proposal, but they are still moving forward with a study of stoplight.

“This isn’t the making decision of whether it goes or stays. It’s gathering the information so we can make a decision that makes sense,” said council member Craig Schafer.

A study could even confirm that a stoplight is needed at the intersection, said council member John DeCramer.

Council members voted to accept a proposal from engineering firm Bolton & Menk to evaluate the intersection and do design work for landscaping on West Lyon Street and North Third Street.

In 2023, the city is planning to reconstruct the roadway and replace water and sewer lines on West Lyon Street and North Third Street, as well as possibly adding some landscaping. During planning of the street project, downtown property owner Brad Meulebroeck asked the city to consider some additional ideas to make that block of Third Street more pedestrian-friendly.

Meulebroeck’s requests included narrowing Third Street and making it into a one-way street going from Main to Lyon Street, and removing the traffic light at the intersection of Third and Main.

“Upon our cursory review of the request, we determined that we needed to seek some proposals for outside services,” said Marshall City Engineer Jason Anderson.

Last week, “We received 3 RFPs for the whole scope of work,” Anderson said. “We split the project down into four tasks.”

The first task would be to study the Main/Third Street intersection, Anderson said. The second and third tasks involve studying and designing streetscape options. The fourth task was the design of the actual street reconstruction, which city staff would do, Anderson said.

It would cost approximately $67,920 for Bolton & Menk to do the first three tasks in the project.

Schafer said the council’s Public Improvement and Transportation committee had a good discussion about the stoplight request.

“I know there’s been a lot of concern,” Schafer said. “We’ve heard about the traffic control — whether it should go, whether it should stay. And we really can’t make any decisions, and MnDOT won’t accept anything, without the study.”

The traffic light is operated by the Minnesota Department of Transportation, and any changes to it would need to be approved by MnDOT.

“I took some input from the public that was opposed to removing the light,” Schafer said. But it would still be important to formally evaluate the need for a stoplight at the intersection.

“It’s not a study of ‘can we remove it?’ It’s a study of how necessary is it,” DeCramer said.

“We have to do the study to even have the discussion” with MnDOT, added council member James Lozinski.