With funding granted, opposition mostly silent and bids received and approved, only the construction required to demolish and fill the Oakland Avenue East underpass remains.

“There’s a lot of work associated with this,” said Austin city engineer Jon Erichson, who told the city council during their meeting Monday he anticipates a spring 2009 end date for the project.

Crews will likely begin Aug. 1, so long as the city gains final bid approval from the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Erichson said he expected to get the go-ahead.

“We do anticipate that it will be approved, but it hasn’t been approved as of yet,” he said.

City council members unanimously awarded the project to Ulland Bros. Inc. for $1.6 million. Ulland outbid its second and only competitor, Heselton Construction, by $1.2 million, which Erichson attributed to estimates for the removal of the three affected bridges and retaining wall.

The project will be covered by federal and state funds — 75 percent through federal aid funds and 25 percent through state aid street funds.

The work entails the demolition of three bridges between First and Fourth Streets, as well as fill and grading of that portion of East Oakland.

Erichson suggested during the work session meeting the city mine for fill off Fifth Street and Third Avenue Southeast to capture granular borrow for the project.

Response from the contractor has been mixed, however, he said. Council members agreed to move the issue to the city council agenda for more deliberation and a formal vote. Erichson said he would not move forward with a dig unless the material could be used for the Oakland Avenue project.

The final stage of construction will include a new road that will gradually slope to Fourth Street, as well as two traffic signal upgrades on the intersections of First and Fourth.

Erichson said at the meeting the city will place a temporary asphalt cover on that region of Oakland Avenue to let fill settle over the winter.

“So we’ll let Mother Nature take its course over the winter,” he said.

Come spring, the asphalt will be grinded and used for a base under a permanent concrete road. Erichson said he hoped to have curb, gutter and pavement work complete by spring of 2009.

City officials has originally planned to break ground in 2006, following the receipt of a $1.6 million federal grant in 2004. They postponed plans, however, after failing to get timely approval from agencies involved.

Local opposition halted plans in 2007, with arguments that the bridges, which once diverted train traffic from street traffic below, should be preserved as a historic landmark. The three bridges, which look like two, were created in 1937 for passage of a now-obsolete railroad.

The project was eventually cleared for construction by federal authorities, which reviewed a memorandum of agreement that outlined a preservation plan for the city’s Roosevelt Bridge in return for federal funds for the Oakland Avenue project.

They determined that the city had few alternatives to bring the underpass up to code.