The City of Andalusia has received permission to advertise for bids from the Alabama Department of Transportation for the estimated $3 million project to improve River Falls Street. Bids are scheduled to be opened publicly at the Andalusia City Hall on May 4, 2010.

Andalusia Mayor Earl Johnson expressed relief that the project was gaining momentum. “We have been working on this project since taking office in 2008. Once the council made it our No. 1 priority, we hit the ground running. Through the efforts of Speaker Hammett, we secured a commitment from the state for $1.5 million toward the project. Following that we obtained the balance of the funding through a bond issue. We completed the financial arrangements last September. Since that time we have been working with the state to finalize the plans. This week we received the final approval that we needed to get to work.”

Following the bid opening, the Andalusia City Council will review the bids and select a contractor.

“We will present the bids to the council on May 18, 2009,” Johnson said. “Once they select the contractor, the state will give their approval and we expect that construction will begin in July. This is a very complex project and we believe that it will take from ten-and-a-half to 14 months to complete.”

The city’s electric department has already moved electric lines from the street, feeding River Falls Street businesses from other directions. At present, only street lights are being fed with lines on River Falls Street. When the project is completed, the street will have decorative lighting like that on East Three Notch and Church Street.