In something of a surprise, the City of Renton recently received a grant that will allow the city to move forward with the replacement of the road surface on Logan Avenue in North Renton.

The $4.6 million grant from the state’s Transportation Improvement Program, will require a $1.1 million match from the city.

The work area will stretch only about four blocks, from North Sixth Street south to about the north end of the bridge over the Cedar River, just south of the Renton Memorial Stadium parking lot.

“It’s wonderful and a huge surprise we got it,” Councilwoman Marcie Palmer, chair of the council’s Transportation Committee, said Tuesday, calling Logan Avenue “one of our worst roads and most important.”

According to Deputy Public Works Administrator Doug Jacobson, the roadway, built in the 1950s, is beginning to fail. Jacobson said the road is constructed of about seven or eight inches of concrete with seven or eight inches of asphalt on top and the pavement is reaching the end of its life.

“That pavement section is just failing,” he said.

The result is cracked pavements, potholes, a rough ride for drivers and a noisy street for neighbors.

The new construction will replace the concrete with what Jacobson called “full depth asphalt,” about a foot’s worth.

In addition to the new surface, Jacobson said there will be a few other changes in the area and several improvements for pedestrians.

First, a new sidewalk, along the east side of the roadway, is planned. Changes to the intersection/exit from Logan to N. Third Street are also planned. The new exit will drop from two lanes to one and the radius of the exit will also be tightened to allow the city to put a pedestrian signal across Third Street.

Jacobson said the design phase of the project, which was spurred by a $950,000 grant from the state last spring, is well under way and the city hopes to send the project to bid midsummer, with the goal of getting the work done by the time construction season ends in October.

Jacobson said the disruption to the area will last about five or six weeks and that the plan is to remove and rebuild the pavement in halves.

Jacobson said during construction, the city plans to keep two northbound lanes open at all times with southbound traffic probably detoured to Park Avenue.

Palmer said though the traffic detours may cause some disruption in North Renton, overall the project will end up as a good thing for the neighborhood as the old, noisy roadway – about which she said she gets complaints – is replaced.

“It will be worth it to get that done,” Palmer said.

The city will also be meeting with the school district to learn the stadium’s sports schedule, which in the fall will host home games for all three Renton School District High School football teams, as well as soccer matches for all three schools.

The city has scheduled an open house on the project for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Feb. 4 at the Renton Senior Activity Center, 211 Burnett Ave.  N.