Cedar Park City Council is moving forward with designing the extension of New Hope Drive, although the city will continue to wait on funds for the construction of a portion of the roadway.

Since June, the city has been working on extending New Hope from Cottonwood Creek Trail to Ronald Reagan Boulevard. Cedar Park has also been planning to extend New Hope from Ronald Reagan to Sam Bass Road.

During a Sept. 28 meeting, Alan Green, senior project manager with the city’s engineering department, said New Hope will be constructed as a four-lane divided roadway with a raised median, curb, gutters and bike lanes.

The project’s total cost is estimated to be $17.8 million, although only $5 million of the amount is funded for right of way acquisition, surveying, testing and engineering costs.

“At this time, there’s no construction funds available, but this project will be designed and delivered to the shovel-ready status in anticipation of applying for federal funds for the construction of the project,” Green said.

Assistant City Manager Sam Roberts said the roadway extension was one of the higher-ranked projects by the city's 2015 bond task force. He said the roadway is also a good candidate to receive funding from the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization.

“If we can get it shovel-ready, there is going to be lots of federal money available in the coming years,” Roberts said. “We don’t have many roads left in Cedar Park that are good candidates for federal funding.”

The City Council approved a resolution for engineering services with LJA Engineering Inc. for the design of the extension project in an amount not to exceed $2 million during the Sept. 28 meeting. Green said the project design is estimated to start in November, and a timeline for construction is still to be determined.