The Ottawa City Council on Thursday morning approved the engineering service agreement with Etscheid, Duttlinger and Associates for design work for the Stevenson Road project, which Mayor Robb Hasty said is likely to begin next spring.

Grant funds of $4 million and $500,000 from the city’s tax increment financing funds will pay for the project.

“Right now, if you’re on Stevenson Road, you know it’s not much more than a side street,” Hasty said. “It’s going to be expanded and made to carry the weight of the 18-wheelers that go up and down it all day. It was never intended to have the traffic on it that it has now, so this was necessary to better feed the industrial park.”

In other action, the council:

• Approved renewal of an intergovernmental agreement with the Sangamon Mass Transit District in Springfield for service and maintenance on the city’s North Central Area Transit buses.
• Approved a licensing agreement with Ralph Lowers to provided vending machines at Riordan Pool.
• Approved an employment agreement with Charles Schaefer to serve as electrical inspector.