The implementation of the city of Austin’s $720 million mobility bond is gaining traction with a second course of cash flow. Austin City Council approved spending for $39 million Thursday for local projects identified in the 2016 Mobility Bond Program and to negotiate three agreements with the Texas Department of Transportation for regional projects on Loop 360, RM 620 and Parmer Lane. To allow TxDOT to move forward on planning the Loop 360 intersections, RM 620 bypass road and Parmer Lane expansion projects, council OK’d negotiating advanced funding agreements to transfer to TxDOT $46 million for Loop 360 to add underpasses and overpasses at Westlake Drive, Courtyard Drive, Lakewood Drive and Spicewood Springs Road; $17 million to improve Parmer Lane north of SH 45 N; and $7.5 million to design the bypass road at RM 620 to RM 2222. Of the $39 million approved Thursday, some money will go toward hiring additional staffers to help with the planning and rollout of the bond. Assistant City Manager Robert Goode said so far city staffers have completed about a year’s worth of work since the bond’s approval in November, and they need assistance to continue that pace. “We are comfortable and confident we can produce [the bond program] in eight years, but we need to continue to have the pace that we’re on to do that,” he said. So far council has approved $67 million in spending on local projects and corridors, including $28 million approved in December, mostly for $10 million worth of sidewalk projects that begin this spring. Sale of the bonds won’t begin until August, and the action will not have any effect on the fiscal year 2016-17 budget, according to city documents. Council’s actions Thursday give the city authority to reimburse itself using funds from the sale of bonds. The second round of funding includes $2 million for additional sidewalk work. Goode said Wednesday during a Mobility Committee briefing that the city could build between 40 and 60 miles of new sidewalks. City staffers will work with council members to prioritize where to build sidewalks segments in each council district, he said. “Some [sidewalks] are very easy to build and so we can get those done quickly,” Goode said. “Some require retaining walls, utility relocation and when we hit that feasibility challenge sometimes it makes better sense to move on to a different sidewalk.” The largest piece of funding from Thursday’s allocation, $12 million, will go toward paying the corridor consultant to help implement existing corridor plans as well as preliminary engineering and design for improvements on other corridors.