Georgetown City Council approved $280,000 in additional funding for the Austin Avenue Bridges Project during its Tuesday meeting. During the City Council’s Oct. 11 workshop meeting, Georgetown Transportation Analyst Nat Waggoner said the money was needed to complete the bridges project because of “enhanced public involvement and heightened environmental analysis.” “We are about halfway through the scope [of the project] and 75 percent through the schedule,” he told the council. The funding will pay for the additional forensic and steel testing completed earlier in the year, third-party reviews of that testing and the additional work needed because of the wide scope of analysis, Waggoner said. Funding for the additional work will come from existing street-planning funds. The project is evaluating the historic bridge structures, which were originally built in 1939-40, to determine if the city will move forward with replacing or repairing the bridges that span the North and South San Gabriel rivers. The Austin Avenue bridge project started in January after the city commissioned a forensic assessment of the bridges as well as two independent reviews of that assessment, both of which Waggoner said recommended something be done to repair the bridges. The forensic testing indicated the bridges are structurally sufficient, and steel testing determined the bridges’ steel is strong and recommended load-bearing limits that had been placed by the Texas Department of Transportation in 2014 could be raised, he said. Waggoner said the city has sent those recommendations to TxDOT and is expected to have guidance on how to address the load-bearing limits by the end of the year.