With only five members in attendance, the Conway city council approved a public meeting to take place on March 10 to discuss vacating a portion of Bruce Street to UCA.

The specifics of the meeting, which will be at 6 p.m. at city hall, were not discussed in detail by the council.

The resolution passed unanimously.

The council also discussed approving a project focusing on the Oak Street and East German Lane intersection.

“This was one of the projects that came out of your Oak Street overlay study that was done a couple of years ago,” Kurt Jones, engineering director, said. “What we’ve designed is adding dedicated right turning lanes off East German, both the northbound and southbound sides.”

Jones said the bidder chosen for the project is Hard Rock Construction based out of Russellville – with a bid of $928,391.40.

“Our engineers’ estimate was $1.3 million, so this came in well under our estimate,” Jones said. “We’ve reviewed the bid. It looks good, so we’re recommending that this be awarded to the contractor.”

Jones said the project will include all new signal equipment and wheelchair access throughout the intersection.

“We’ve acquired all of the right of way that we need and utility relocations have been completed,” Jones said. “Based on the Oak Street study, this will improve the efficiency of that intersection by approximately 70%.”

Jones said there were other projects on Oak Street that the transportation department is looking at in the future that could further benefit the intersections along the corridor.

“This would be the first step in helping some of that traffic congestion over there on that side of town,” Jones said.

Alderman David Grimes asked what the timeline for the project would be, to which Jones said the project could begin as soon as the council approves it.

“We’ll need to schedule a pre-construction meeting [with the contractor] after tonight. Once the contractor gets his bonds and everything, we’ll execute the contracts and likely get started as soon as possible.”

Jones said the city had already purchased all of the signal equipment necessary for the project, so the equipment costs were not included in the bid.

“That was because the equipment has a long lead time and we wanted to go ahead and be ready to start as soon as we got it,” Jones said.

Overall, Jones said the project is estimated to take 120 days to complete.

“It’ll have a significant impact, particularly northbound traffic on East German coming up that leg there,” Jones said.

Alderman Shelley Mehl said the project would specifically help with school traffic along East German and Oak Street.

“We should realize a noticeable increase in efficiency in that intersection,” Jones said.

Council member Drew Spurgers asked if there would be any issues affecting school traffic during the construction.

“Obviously, it’ll be a construction zone,” Jones said. “Of course, we just went through a project not too long ago with the improvements to East German on that south leg and it won’t be any worse than what we experienced with that project.”

Jones said while delays should be expected, there will not be any shutdowns during the project.

Mayor Bart Castleberry also commended Jones and the transportation department on the sidewalk projects they have completed on East German and across Conway.

The council approved the project unanimously.

Council members Andy Hawkins, Theodore Jones and Shelia Isby were not present at the meeting.

The next city council meeting is scheduled for March 10.