Eller Corp., of Newman Lake, has begun work on a $5 million city of Spokane project to widen and repave Five Mile Road between Austin and Lincoln roads.

The project entails widening Five Mile Road to 44 feet wide along that stretch and improving it, says city spokeswoman Ann Deasy. The road currently varies from 22 feet wide north of Cochran Avenue to 45 feet wide between Cochran and Woodside avenues.

That stretch of Five Mile Road carries traffic between the Maple-Ash corridor and the top of Five Mile Prairie and is one of the main links to that prairie. Austin Road is one block west of Ash Street.

During the work, which got under way May 11 and is expected to be completed in October, Five Mile between Austin Road and Cochran will be closed, and the intersection of Five Mile and Lincoln Road will be closed. On the east side of Five Mile, traffic headed north of Stratton Avenue will be routed along Austin Road to Quamish Drive, Cascade Way, or St. Thomas More Way. Traffic headed to locations south of Five Mile's intersection with Cochran will be detoured to Alberta from Francis Avenue to Woodside Avenue.

The project includes adding a center turn lane between Stratton Avenue and Lincoln Road, and a second lane between Austin and Alberta Court to accommodate slower-moving vehicles on the uphill ascent there. It also includes adding five-foot-wide bike lanes on both sides of Five Mile and amenities such as curbs, a sidewalk on the west side of the road, trees, sewer and water lines, and grassy swales between Stratton and Lincoln.

The city is paying for the project with a combination of federal stimulus funds, real estate excise taxes, and mitigation fees that developers pay to compensate for the anticipated traffic impacts of their projects, Deasy says.