Eller Corp., of Newman Lake, is the apparent low bidder, at $1.9 million, for a city of Spokane project to repave a deteriorated section of a busy South Hill commuter route.

The project calls for repaving a 1.2-mile section of Southeast Boulevard between Perry Street and 29th Avenue in what's referred to as a curb-to-curb rehabilitation.

The project also will include replacing a 12-inch water line buried beneath that stretch of the arterial.

The city's engineer's estimate for that project was $2.5 million, says Gary Nelson, a principal design engineer with the city. A contract likely will be awarded later this month, and work should start within about six weeks, he says.

The project is the second of two phases of work in an overall plan to rebuild the Southeast Boulevard corridor, which also includes a several-block section of Sherman Avenue. The first phase included rebuilding Sherman and Southeast Boulevard between Third Avenue and Perry, in a $2.1 million contract. That project was done by Murphy Bros. Inc., of Spokane, in 2007.

The overall project is expected to be completed this summer.

During the work, traffic on Southeast Boulevard will be detoured to 17th Avenue, which intersects with Ray Street 1.3 miles to the east. Ray is a major South Hill arterial.