Washington’s City Council, during its meeting Monday, will consider formally approving proposal to improve a segment of 15^th Street.

Last month, the council endorsed the proposed project that would make a section of 15^th Street safer for motorists and pedestrians.

The plan is somewhat different than one proposed last year. The project’s roots go back to 2000, according to Dwayne Alligood, a spokesman for the N.C. Department of Transportation.

The revised plan calls for improvements in the section of 15^th Street from Carolina Avenue (U.S. Highway 17 Business) to the Pierce Street area. The proposed improvements call for a divided road with a median separating the travel lanes.

Alligood said the project’s goal is to reduce the number of vehicles crashes on that section of 15^th Street. Those crashes on that section of road occur about three times more frequently than crashes on similar roads in other areas of the state, according to DOT figures.

The council does not doubt that section of 15^th Street needs the improvements.

There is a question about the cost to the city when it comes to helping pay for that widening. That’s why the council asked DOT to send representatives to its Jan. 13 meeting — to find out more information, especially cost data, before signing off on the agreement between the city and DOT.

The initial proposed agreement calls for the city to pay for costs of relocating utilities that exceed $150,000 and be responsible for rights-of-way costs that exceed $135,000. But those amounts could be lower or go away altogether under certain conditions, according to Alligood.

“What that would do, we would put a center median in there and provide turn lanes at signalized intersections. If there are places in between where we can provide a crossover, then we would do that. That would be a channelized crossover. It wouldn’t be a full opening. It would be where you could make a left turn off the main line,” Alligood said at that January meeting.

At that January meeting, Haywood Daughtry, a safety engineer with DOT, said the project is about “keeping local people alive.”