The Ames residents speaking at the public forum at Tuesday’s City Council meeting had only one issue on their minds: the 13th Street and Grand Avenue intersection.

The city plans to improve the intersection in safety and efficiency by widening the two streets. The project is predicted to cause the demolition of eight homes as well as the acquisition of land from approximately 30 other private properties.

Brian Vandewater, of 1217 Grand Ave., expressed his concern that the city is moving forward with its plans to improve that intersection while another intersection, located on Lincoln Way and Duff Avenue, was still problematic even after the city worked on it.

Vandewater said he was disturbed upon hearing from city employees that data is normally not collected until three to five years after construction in situations like intersection improvements.

He questioned the legitimacy of spending a considerable amount of the city’s money to improve an intersection when data that could or could not provide evidence for actual improvements could not be collected for three to five years.

“A study [taken after a shorter period of time] might possibly embarrass the city,” Vandewater said.

He said as he spoke with other Ames residents opposing the intersection’s reconfiguration, he consistently heard them question the city’s desire to improve the location while “that mess on Duff ” was still problematic, and potentially influencing the congestion on 13th Street and Grand Avenue.

Kim Burnett, of 703 12th St., asked the City Council why it had not been provided with sufficient educational material explaining land acquisition immediately upon hearing of the plan for the intersection.

She said she went to the Department of Transportation after hearing that, in state projects involving land acquisition, residents are given a collection of documents explaining the process.

Burnett said she collected these educational brochures, one of which is titled “Highways and Your Land,” and passed them out to her neighbors.

After another resident contacted Damion Pregitzer, city of Ames traffic engineer, one of the brochures appeared on the city’s Web site in PDF format, Burnett said.

“There are some elderly residents in our neighborhood who do not use computers,” Burnett said, suggesting the city make “all information available to all residents in an easy-to-use format” in the future.

Burnett’s husband, Lynn, also requested the residents of the affected neighborhood be provided with copies of all applications for funding concerning the project.

Other residents gave speeches the right to keep their property, similar to those given at previous public forums.

“We only wish our fellow Ames residents could vote on this proposal,” said Rob White, of 1212 Grand Ave.

White’s wife, Gail, said to the council she and her neighbors had collected 1,178 signatures on a petition opposing the intersection reconfiguration.

Not all Ames residents speaking at the forum opposed the intersection improvement, however.

Nathan Saetveit, of 1112 Grand Ave., said to the council he supported the decision to improve the intersection.

“I think it is good the Ames City Council recognizes [the problem at this location],” Saetveit said.