The Washington state Depart-ment of Transportation says it hopes to seek bids around the fourth week of March for a $35 million North Spokane Corridor project, expectedto get under way this spring.

The work is to involve constructing the southbound lanes of the corridor between Francis Avenue and Farwell Road, and building five new bridges to carry those lanes over Market Street and Lincoln, Gerlach, Fairview, and Parksmith roads.

The DOT recently received a $35 million federal grant, called a Transportation Investments Gen-erating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant, which is part of the federal stimulus package of 2009. Nationwide, $1.5 billion was awarded under the TIGER program. The project will employ 106 at its peak.

DOT spokesman Al Gilson says the project is expected to be completed in late 2011. Once that project is done, along with two other major North Spokane Corridor projects currently being constructed, more than half of the planned 10-mile long, six-lane North Spokane Corridor will be completed, Gilson says.

At that point, all six lanes of the freeway will be complete between Francis Avenue and U.S. 395 at Wandermere.