The town has begun the process of selecting an engineering firm to design the planned reconstruction of Saguaro Boulevard.

In addition, the Town Council will be asked Thursday evening for direction regarding scheduling construction.

Last week about a dozen engineering firms participated in a preliminary meeting on the project to respond to the town’s request for qualifications.

The work on Saguaro would potentially impact events held annually along the Avenue of the Fountains, on Saguaro Boulevard or in Fountain Park.

Staff is proposing to the Town Council a couple of alternatives for construction, one that begins late November or early December of 2014 with completion by late May 2015.

The second option delays the start of construction until March 2015 with completion in late summer.

The early start potentially conflicts with about 15 downtown events including both Chamber of Commerce arts festivals in the 2014-15 season. There are seven scheduled events in 2015 that would be impacted by either scheduling.

There are also concerns about impacts to downtown businesses during the busy winter visitor season.

According to staff, the winter/spring schedule would have the project completed faster, but it would impact more events as well as the busy visitor season.

The spring/summer schedule would impact fewer special events, but it could potentially cause the project to be more expensive due to higher engineering fees for starting and stopping. Also there could be unknown fluctuations in the bond market and construction material prices.

The delay could also impact contractor availability and bid pricing, as well as coordination with utility work.

Town Manager Ken Buchanan said staff’s recommendation would be to move forward seamlessly without any delays between design, bidding and construction timetables.

There are also two options for handling traffic on Saguaro during construction.

Buchanan said the construction specifications will be written to require the contractor to maintain two-way traffic on Saguaro during the work, as well as maintaining residential and business access with allowance for road closures for short periods of time.

The two alternatives the contractor may use for maintaining traffic include moving all traffic in both directions to one side or the other as construction is done.

The second option is to maintain traffic in one lane on either side.

No matter what option is used, traffic would be restricted to a single lane in either direction during construction.

The selection of an engineer for design should be ready for a council decision in early March. The design work would take until late August.

The time frame for bidding the construction would last from September through November.

The Town Council will meet on Thursday, Dec. 19, at 6:30 p.m. in council chambers at Town Hall.

The session is open to the public.