Road construction projects here are starting to ramp up as warmer weather returns, and the city of Spokane's engineering department has opened competitive bids for a handful of street rehabilitation projects that are expected to start later this month and into this summer.

Red Diamond Construction Inc., of Spokane, is the low bidder on two upcoming city street projects in East Spokane with a combined total of roughly $2.5 million.

Additionally, Spokane Valley-based Spokane Rock Products Inc. is the apparent low bidder on a $909,000 street rehabilitation project in North Spokane.

City spokeswoman Ann Deasy says that project, funded through the 10-year street bond, will involve the rehabilitation of a half-mile stretch of north Jefferson Street between Wellesley and Rowan avenues, as well as several surrounding residential streets.

Streets included as part of the project, which is planned to begin in late June and finish in August, will undergo various improvements depending upon the road surfaces' condition. Deasy says some streets will be repaved completely, while other sections of the project will require that just the top layer of the asphalt be replaced. She says that less deteriorated sections of the streets will undergo crack- and fog-sealing treatments.

Local access to residences in the project area will remain open during work, she says.

Meanwhile, Deasy says the engineering department is recommending that the city council approve a low bid from Red Diamond Construction of just over $1 million to pave several dirt-surfaced streets in a mostly industrial area of East Central Spokane.

That project will include paving Haven Street between Sprague and Alki avenues, Fiske Street between Alki and Olive Avenue, and Olive between Haven and Fiske, Deasy says.

Work to pave those streets, install sidewalks, curbs, stormwater drains, and bio-infiltration swales, as well as to plant trees, is being paid for partly through the city's local improvement district program, which assists with the paving and improvement of dirt and gravel streets in the city. The city's 10-year street bond funds one-third of the total construction costs for such projects, with the rest coming from nearby property owners.

The Haven Street improvement project is expected to begin before the end of this month and should be complete in mid-August, Deasy says.

Red Diamond also bid lowest on a $1.4 million project to rehabilitate a half-mile stretch of Euclid Avenue between Crestline and Market streets in northeast Spokane.

As crews work to repave the street from curb to curb, a 30-inch diameter water main will be installed, Deasy says. Drainage swales to collect stormwater runoff and divert it from going into the city's stormwater system, which drains into the Spokane River during heavy rain or melt events, also will be installed as part of the project, she adds.

During construction, which is expected to being in mid-July and wrap up in October, motorists will be diverted to Garland Avenue from Euclid, Deasy says.