The city has announced its intent to award a contract to provide traffic signals on an as-needed basis to the Department of Public Works’ Traffic Engineering Division.

MoboTrex Inc., which has an office in Powhatan and is headquartered in Davenport, Iowa, came in with the low bid of $72,975 to provide the equipment, which includes signal head assemblies with all LED displays, LED signal lamps, yellow arrow and green arrow signal lamps and pedestrian signal equipment.

The contract is effective through Jan. 31, 2021, and the city reserves the option to renew the agreement for two additional one-year periods.

The city put out an invitation for bid Dec. 5, and it received five bids from companies that had at least five years’ experience in the manufacture of LED traffic signals with high flux LEDs, designed to emit a large amount of light for traffic signals and other applications.

The city’s invitation for bid called for the items within the bid to meet specific performance requirements.

Along with MoboTrex, the city received bids from General Traffic Equipment Corp., ATS-Sales LLC, J.Q. & G. Inc. and J.O. Herbert Co. Inc.

The bids ranged from MoboTrex’s low, to just over $106,000 from J.O. Herbert Co. Inc.

The initial and renewal rates must be guaranteed for a minimum of 12 months, and the city must be notified of any rate increases during the contract period.

A crew from Dagan Electric Company installed flashing yellow arrow turn signals at intersections throughout the city last October in an effort to make left-hand turns safer and meet the latest federal standards, according to Public Works Director L.J. Hansen.

That work cost about $200,000, which came from the Federal Highway Administration’s Highway Safety Improvement Program that is administered by the Virginia Department of Transportation and the city.