Garco Construction Inc., of Spokane, is the apparent low bidder, with a bid of $6.4 million, for a city of Spokane contract to replace the busy Freya Street Bridge.

The project, which will begin between mid-July and early August, will complete a series of projects to improve the Freya corridor that began in 2004, but will put a kink in traffic there for more than a year.

Garco's low bid was significantly below the city engineer's estimate of $9.5 million for the project. The overall cost of the project now is expected to be about $8.8 million, including design, right of way, surveying, and construction, says city spokeswoman Ann Deasy. New York -based Parsons Brinckerhoff was the consultant for the project, which was designed with subcontractors Nicholls Engineering, of Spokane Valley, and Taylor Engineering Inc., of Spokane, with city engineer Steve Hansen overseeing the project, Deasy says.

In that part of the city, Freya is part of a major north-south arterial that connects to the north with Greene and Market streets to carry traffic between Sprague and Francis avenues. The Freya Street Bridge carries the arterial over railroad tracks that lie just north of Springfield and Broadway avenues and just south of Trent Avenue, which they roughly parallel.

During the project, which won't be done until the fall of 2010, that part of the route will be closed to traffic. On the south side of where the bridge is being built, vehicles that are northbound on Freya will be diverted east to Fancher Way by way of Broadway Avenue, and on the north side of the bridge's location, vehicles that are southbound on Greene will be diverted onto Trent Avenue, Deasy says.

While the Freya Street Bridge is being replaced, an overpass also will be built over the same set of railroad tracks where they cross Havana Street, a north-south arterial that parallels and lies between Freya and Fancher Way. The city expects to seek bids soon for that project, Deasy says.

The Freya Bridge work includes demolishing a pair of two-lane bridges that carry traffic over the railroad tracks now and constructing a single, 289-foot long, 71-foot-wide bridge that will have two traffic lanes in each direction. The new bridge will include 6-foot-4-inch bike and pedestrian walkways on each side, Deasy says. The bridge's north approach will be at Desmet Avenue, but its south approach will be moved just north of Alki Avenue from Springfield Avenue, Deasy says. The new bridge will be longer than the old bridge to reduce the steepness of the span's incline.

The work is the third and final job in a long-planned series of projects to improve that corridor. In 2004, Shea Graham Construction Inc., of Spokane, replaced the Freya Way Bridge, which carries Freya Way over another set of railroad tracks two blocks north of the Freya Street Bridge. Last year, Spokane Rock Products built a new crossover street to realign the connection between Freya and Broadway in preparation for the Freya Street Bridge project. The new connection runs somewhat diagonally from near Julia Street on its east end to about Sycamore Street on the west.