Scarsella Bros. Inc., of Seattle, is the apparent low bidder, with a bid of just under $2 million, for a contract from Spokane County to construct the first phase in the planned $53.9 million Bigelow Gulch Road improvement project.

The contract likely will be awarded in early November, and the county hopes to get that phase of the project under way yet this year, but is unsure when the work will proceed, says Diana Sargent, an administrative specialist for the county's construction department.

The first-phase will entail widening about 3,000 feet of Bigelow Gulch east of Havana Street.

Sargent says a lot of the earth work needed in the project can be done in the winter months. Altogether, phase one is expected to take about 100 working days, she says.

A group of home owners near the project, however, along with an organization here called the Prairie Protection Association, which was formed to fight the project, plans to seek an injunction in U.S. District Court here to block the entire project, says Rick Eichstaedt, an attorney at the Center for Justice here, who is representing the group.

A suit the group originally filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle claims the Federal Highway Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation violated federal environmental policy in issuing a finding of no significant impact and in accepting a revised environmental assessment done on the overall project. Eichstaedt says the group will refile the suit here.

In the larger Bigelow Gulch project, Spokane County plans to widen 5.8 miles of the two-lane road to four lanes, with alternating gravel medians and left-turn lanes, and to realign the road to reduce the sharpness of curves in several places. In addition to the widening, the county plans to build about 2.5 miles of new roadway, including a connecting road stretching southeast from Forker Road near Bigelow Gulch to Sullivan Road.