The county board is moving ahead on some requested additions to a project to replace the Oakland Place Southeast bridge, while it decided against some architectural elements and an ornamental railing.

The county board unanimously voted Tuesday to move forward with $289,000 of the $437,000 in project additions proposed through Vision 2020’s Visual Quality Manual, which is the Gateway to Austin Committee’s plan to beautify bridges on key roads in Austin.

The county will cover $100,000 to widen the bridge to make room for a 10-foot wide bike/walking path and $30,000 for additional lights. But the board did not include $112,000 for architectural surface treatments and $29,000 for an ornamental railing.

Commissioner Mike Ankeny said including the lights and wider bike paths will address some concerns raised over safety on the bridge.

“I think that this design will satisfy the people that have the concerns,” he said.

County board members and Vision 2020 leaders both called Tuesday’s vote a good compromise.

Commissioner Tony Bennett called the plan a good compromise, as he’d heard from constituents saying the most important thing to them was widening the bridge for the bike/walking path.

Vision 2020 Director Greg Siems said in an email that Vision 2020 officials were happy with the compromise, especially for the increased width that he says will make the bridge safer and more accessible for bikers and pedestrians.

Board members previously mentioned the possibility of seeking Hormel Foundation funds, but Siems and Vision 2020 don’t plan to seek additional dollars because they don’t want to affect the project’s schedule.

“They would have been nice to have, but it will still be a great bridge in the end,” Siems wrote in the email.

Tuesday’s vote boosts the project cost to about $2.5 million and it increases the county’s local share of the project from $250,000 to $339,000, but the city and state will contribute too.

The county has been promised about $1.75 million in state bonding funds toward the roughly $2 million in basic costs for the bridge replacement.

Public Works Director Mike Hanson will apply for an additional $100,000 in state funds for other project costs.

The city will fund $166,000 concrete retaining walls leading to the dam and about $179,000 for approach up to the bridge, which the city and townships traditionally cover on their respective projects. The county currently handles all the bridge replacements in the county — including on city and township roads — based on a more than 100-year-old standard.

Since the bridge is on a city road and not a county state aid highway, the local share of the project has to come through property tax dollars. Gas tax dollars can’t be used.

The county plans to replace the Oakland Place Southeast bridge, which spans Dobbins Creek on the southern end of East Side Lake, this construction season. The bridge is deemed deficient and was built in 1932.