As first reported in our coverage of the North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting this past Monday – and information we found online afterward – the contract for next year’s big Delridge repaving/road-rebuilding project has been awarded. And now that the city knows the price, it also knows how far the paving will stretch – SDOT had said that depending on the bids, it would be able to add more of Delridge, and possibly even some of 16th. As noted in our earlier story, the contractor is Gary Merlino Construction, and the winning bid includes the “first additive” – which means Delridge will be repaved from Orchard all the way to Roxbury, but 16th will not be included. Read on for the official city announcement:

The Seattle Department of Transportation will rebuild Delridge Way SW from SW Orchard Street all the way to SW Roxbury Street beginning in January 2013. The original southern terminus was SW Henderson Street, but a favorable bidding climate and other budget factors allow this project to be extended another half of a mile.

Gary Merlino Construction Company is the contractor awarded the $6.7 million contract for the Delridge Way SW Paving Project. In the next two months SDOT will work to finalize the construction schedule, adhering to contract parameters to keep Delridge Way SW northbound traffic flowing. Southbound traffic will be detoured during the first three phases, each expected to last two-and-a-half months. The attached map shows the phase boundaries currently known. The planned detour is 35th Avenue SW. As the start of construction approaches more information will be available regarding bus routing and stop closures/relocations. King County Metro and Seattle Public Schools will communicate these changes to their audiences directly.

This paving project provides SDOT with the opportunity to reconfigure lanes on a short section of Delridge Way SW, to make the roadway safer for all travel modes. The changes include providing a northbound left-turn lane at SW Holden Street and installing bike lanes between SW Myrtle and SW Kenyon streets on both sides of the roadway. More information on these changes can be found at: seattle.gov/transportation/delridge_safety.htm .

The Delridge Way SW Paving Project is paid for by Bridging the Gap, the $365 million levy for transportation maintenance and improvements passed by Seattle voters in 2006.