One-way construction delayed with a new target of July – Austin Daily Herald

Construction on two of Austin’s busiest thoroughfares, which was scheduled to begin this spring, has been pushed back to a more likely summer start date.

During the Austin City Council meeting Monday night, City Engineer Steven Lang told council members the project on Oakland Avenue West and First Avenue Southwest will hopefully start in early July now, two months after construction was expected to start this month.

“We hope to award it at the second council meeting in June,” Lang said regarding bidding for the project, which will start at the end May. “Hopefully we’ll get a quick turn around for an early July start.”

Lang said afterwards that the reason for the delay lay in the $15.60 million project’s review at the state and federal levels and was out of the city’s hands. 

Even though the delay pushes back the start of the three-year project, Lang expressed confidence to the board that it will not alter the overall timeline of construction, explaining that they will adjust the schedule of the second and third year of the project in order to still be done in 2027.

“We’ll shorten year one to five blocks and then pick up extra blocks in year two and three,” He said, referring to the initial plan of working on eight blocks a year over the span of those three years and adding that they’ll be able to start earlier in May in each of those years.

Of the estimated cost of the project, $7.68 million will come from state and federal grants and another $5.95 million will come out of Municipal State Aid. 

The remainder of the cost will be funded through the city’s Sanitary Sewer Fund and assessments.

People can sign up for text alerts regarding the project by texting Oakland to 1-507-296-7890 or by going to https://eztxt.net/9luN1S.