The Ventura City Council voted on Monday to delay pedestrian and bicycle improvements to the Five Points intersection in Midtown.

Citing the need to focus staff resources to get started on repaving projects because of the damage to roads from winter rains, the council voted 6-0 to reject all bids related to the project. Councilman James Monahan was absent.

City Council members indicated they expect the project to be completed but agreed with City Manager Mark Watkins that getting repaving projects underway is a higher priority for the staff’s time.

The project at the intersection of Thompson Boulevard, Telegraph Road and Main Street was expected to include two pedestrian cross with signals, two flashing beacon crossing on Thompson Boulevard along with the construction of access ramps, sidewalk and passages through the medians.

The city had applied for and received a $300,000 Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement grant to cover the $407,850  construction costs. Granite Construction Co.’s bid was about 5 percent below the engineer’s cost estimate. Watkins asked the council to reject the bid because it did not receive City Council approval to advertise.

Several people spoke, including the Midtown Ventura Community Council, urging the city to send the project out as soon as possible. In a letter to the City Council, the board wrote, “We finally have a chance to correct a bad example from the last century of how not to be pedestrian friendly. The plans to improve this intersection seem to be very prudent and well thought out. We urge you to move this project forward and send this out to rebid as soon as possible.” (See the complete letter here.)

The Five Points intersection was identified as a major concern as part of a 2008 Citywide Mobility Plan. The project was originally bid in December 2014 but was rejected when the bids came in higher than estimated and the city had to seek an additional $250,000 in funding.