Federal funding cuts and an overrun on design costs has forced Moab city to delay the start of a major road improvement project planned for 500 West, the city’s engineer said during an update to the Moab City Council on Tuesday night. The project, which is a total reconstruction of 500 West stretching from 400 North to just past the Mill Creek bridge, has been in the planning stages for almost two years, city officials said.

The reconstruction will include widening the road to three lanes to feature a middle turning lane, bike lanes, and sidewalks on both sides. The construction will also bring the intersection of 400 North and 500 West up to safety standards with more visible and distinct lane dividers, according to Moab City Engineer Dan Stenta.

Stenta provided the council with a document detailing the latest developments with the project budget and outlining when the city can expect construction to begin.

Originally, the city of Moab was awarded $1.75 million in federal grants to help develop the project, which would be matched 20 percent by city funding. These two amounts brought the total project budget to $2.2 million.

However, due to economic factors over the last two federal fiscal years, across-the-board budget cuts were made. These cuts from the federal grant and a design fee that exceeded the initial budget left the project with a $230,000 shortfall, Stenta said.

“We were scrambling a bit to come up with solutions to fill the budget gap,” Stenta said. “One of the solutions we came up with was applying for a federal stimulus fund [grant].”

The stimulus fund money, which would total $250,000, became available after the Utah Department of Transportation realized the Goblin Valley road project was going to come in under budget. Stenta said he had been working for the past few months to attain the stimulus funds. However, the Joint Highway Committee notified him last week that the funds would be distributed to three other counties that had received stimulus funds earlier this year.

Since receiving word about the funds, Stenta and the design consultant have been working to find areas of the project that could be cut to make up the shortfall. Those cuts included eliminating or scaling back decorative streetlights similar to those currently on Main Street, landscaping on the widened sidewalk, and decorative concrete work.

With these cuts, the project is now ready for bidding to local and national contractors, Stenta said. The request for bids will be posted on the UDOT website beginning approximately on Dec. 7 of this year. Once the bid is in place, construction is slated to begin mid-March and last for 6 months, Stenta said.