SIDNEY — The Sidney City Council held a special meeting on Tuesday evening to authorize City Manager Mark Cundiff to enter into a contract for the design change of the state Route 47 median between Fourth Avenue and Walnut Avenue.

The newly adopted resolution allows Cundiff to enter into the contract to be able to meet project deadlines set before the first regular council meeting of the year, on Jan. 9.

Currently, the city is negotiating a contract for the project with the highest rated firm, the Mannik Smith Group. The contract is expected to be awarded and signed Wednesday afternoon.

After a traffic analysis was conducted by Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT), a plan was created to reduce the stretch of state Route 47 leading into the downtown district from a four-lane down to a two-lane road. Several accidents have been caused from speeding while passing other vehicles, and so the aim is to reduce lanes and the speed from 45- down to 35-miles per hour and place bike paths along both sides of the roadway.

Assistant City Manager/Public Works Director Gary Clough said this area of roadway is the 79 highest ranked crash-section of highway in Ohio.

The city has been awarded 95 percent of the funding for the project.

The design is expected to include a single lane roundabout at Wilkinson Avenue. After an initial design is complete, council will hold a public hearing on March 16 on the project.

Clough said bidding for construction will not begin until the summer or fall of 2019, and the construction will likely not take place until March of 2020.