The City of Oak Harbor is putting money behind plans for roundabouts, medians and a wider highway.

The City Council approved a $302,000 contract last week with Everett-based consulting firm Perteet, Inc. It’s for a pre-design study of Highway 20, from Swantown Avenue to Beeksma Drive.

The work will be funded with a $156,000 grant from the Transportation Improvement Board and the rest comes from the city’s arterial road fund.

Once the design work is complete, the city will be another step further in its plans to to improve the highway in the congested section. The plans are complicated by the fact that the state Department of Transportation is responsible for highway improvements, but the state has very limited dollars to spend on non-safety-related projects.

“It will help us to get out of the starting blocks and maybe get around the first curve,” said City Engineer Larry Benfield.

City Development Director Steve Powers added that completing pre-design work will help the city convince the DOT to stay involved in the corridor.

“Frankly, we are trying to keep the Department of Transportation interested in this project,” he said.

Benfield said the pre-design work will incorporate concepts from a recently-completed corridor study of the stretch of highway from Swantown to Cabot Drive. The corridor study was a joint project between the city and Department of Transportation. The city kicked in $20,000 and the state matched with $10,000 to do the study.

The study recommends that the section of the highway be improved to a four-lane section with medians and bike lanes. Also, it states that roundabouts should be considered at the three intersection on the highway — at Beeksma, Erie and Swantown.

The matter of the roundabouts caused a little confusion at the council meeting. Councilman Paul Brewer said council should first decide whether or not they want roundabouts before the circular traffic features are designed.

Powers pointed out, however, that the city and DOT held a series of public open houses and council workshops to discuss the design, including roundabouts. The council then voted to approve the recommendation from the study, which included roundabouts.

“I’m not an engineer,” Councilman Eric Gerber said, speaking to Powers. “If you guys tell me roundabouts are the way to go, I’m all for it.”

In the end, the council passed the motion approving the contract. Brewer abstained.