NEDERLAND — Nederland residents can expect to see roadwork and improvement across the city throughout 2020 as part of a large-scale project nearly unmatched in the city’s recent history.

All told, the project includes roadwork, drainage help and street stripping at a cost of more than $4.5 million.

“This is probably, short of the Nederland Avenue project, the largest group of road projects we’re going to undertake in one year,” City Manager Chris Duque said. “A lot of things have gone into this. This is going to be a big challenge for us, keeping up with all of this work, keeping eyes on it and working with the contractor and the project engineer to get it done in a timely manner.”

The roadwork, approved this week by City Council members, is broken into hot mix overlay and concrete street rehabilitation.

According to city officials, concrete work is needed on the heaviest-trafficked roads that deal with heavy vehicles and equipment. The cost is higher but the longevity return is greater.

“There are a good number of concrete roads in Nederland,” Duque said. “Unfortunately over time they get beat up and need attention. That is what we are going to do this summer.”

The stretches of concrete street improvements include Helena Avenue from 27th Street to Twin City Highway, 27th Street in front of C.O. Wilson Middle School, Bourque Road from U.S. 69 to Hodgson Road and Hodgson Road from Bourque Road to BGR.

The concrete work includes 8,860 linear feet.

Late last year, the Nederland City Council instructed Duque to seek funding from the Nederland Economic Development Corporation for the work around Hodgson and Bourque roads.

The Nederland EDC denied that request, and City Council members ultimately decided Monday to fund the complete improvement plan.

“We had one of the businesses in that area indicate that a road project would be very essential to their plans to expand their business, so we felt this was a worthwhile project to take on,” Duque said.

Nederland EDC Executive Director Kay DeCuir said the board received legal advice from two entities indicating that the funding requested by the city fell outside of voter-approved parameters.

“If this road that we were going to pay for was connected to something we were working on or we knew new business was going out there and there were going to be new jobs, we could have done that,” DeCuir said, adding EDC board members operate under a strict set of guidelines when allocating taxpayer funds.

Streets approved for hot mix overlay include South 2nd Street from Nederland Avenue to Avenue H, South 15th Street from Nederland Avenue to Avenue D, Detroit Avenue from 17th Street to Twin City Highway, South 13th Street from Avenue H to Highway 365, South 14th Street from Avenue J to Avenue N and South 37th Street from Nederland Avenue to Avenue H.

The hot mix work includes 12,820 linear feet.

Duque said the improvements are largely funded from the city’s street improvement fund, generated from a dedicated sales tax for street projects.

The hot mix projects are expected to take two months, depending on the weather, with the city looking at awarding bids in April.

Ideally, the concrete projects will be complete by September, but work around Hodgson and Bourque is expected to extend into the wintertime.