Georgetown City Council gave its go-ahead Tuesday for a $2.4 million project to widen Airport Road into a five-lane roadway east of Georgetown Municipal Airport. The proposal includes several road upgrades in a corner of Georgetown that city officials expect to grow and where an 85,000-square-foot Holt Cat sales and rental facility will open in 2019.

Widening Airport from two lanes to five lanes was part of an economic agreement between the city and Holt Cat, said Wesley Wright, systems engineering director for the city of Georgetown. Holt Cat received several incentives through its deal with Georgetown, including a possible sales tax rebate of up to $2 million over five years if the company meets benchmarks on new jobs and sales.

Council members voted unanimously to award the contract to Patin Construction of Taylor to widen Airport between Lakeway Drive and Aviation Drive. The Georgetown Transportation Enhancement Corp. will need to approve the project during an April 30 meeting before the contract is final, Wright said.

The project includes moving the intersection of Airport and Lakeway several hundred feet to the east. It also includes traffic signal improvements at the intersection of Airport and Lakeway as well as a sidewalk crossing of a drainage way in the project area.

City staff initially looked to extend the widening project on Airport further north to its intersection with Halmar Cove, but the city could not secure right of way access for that portion of roadway, according to city documents.

Holt Cat, a San Antonio-based company that sells and services Caterpillar equipment and engines, broke ground in January on its future sales, rental and parts facility off Airport , north of the Lakeway and I-35 intersection.