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The Bartlesville City Council awarded a contract on Monday night for the reconstruction of Hillcrest Drive between the Caney River and 20th Street.

Vice Mayor Jim Curd Jr. said the project is long overdue. He said they'll be able to keep the road open while construction gets underway next month.

There will be a signal on each end of the project. Curd said there will be one-way traffic. He said this may cause an inconvenience for a lot people, so they urge the public to use an alternate route if at all possible when the project begins.

The $2.2 million project was approved by voters in the 2013 Half-cent Capital Improvement Project election.

"The new roadway will be constructed parallel to the existing alignment to maintain traffic flow throughout construction," said Director of Engineering Micah Siemers, noting the new alignment will be located on the southwesterly side of the existing roadway. "Fortunately, the City of Bartlesville has 100 feet of right-of-way on each side of the centerline of the existing roadway which allows construction of a new alignment rather than having to replace the roadway in its current location.

The new alignment will transition to the existing roadway just north of the Caney River on the south end of the project and just north of 20th Street on the north end of the project. The new roadway will consist of two 12-foot-wide drive lanes with 6-foot-wide asphalt shoulders. Turn lanes will be provided at Shawnee and 20th Street.

Siemers said bids were in excess of the budgeted $2.2 million but that staff had worked to reduce costs where possible.

"While the final amount that could be extracted will have to be finalized and coordinated with the selected contractor, staff believes that the project can be reduced to within approximately $25,000 of the budget," he said, noting the extra funds are available through saved costs on other street projects. "The approximate $25,000 shortfall estimated after value engineering the project can be covered solely by savings from other street projects rather than tapping into project budgets that have not been bid yet.”

The council voted 4-0 to award a contract to Brent Bell Construction Co. of Bartlesville in the amount of $2,455,218 with the understanding that $255,218.25 in budget shortfall will be covered by savings on other street projects combined with funds set aside for Fiscal Year 2020-21 street projects that have not been bid yet.

Construction is likely to begin in April and will take close to a full year to complete.