Powell's effort to make a proposed Murphy Parkway extension shovel-ready has been delayed with the addition of a new study to help determine the scope of the project.

City council on Nov. 17 approved a $19,000 contract with Burgess & Niple, an engineering firm. The company will help council determine the best traffic control method for connecting Murphy Parkway to South Liberty Street.

In 60 days, the company will present council with a study that compares two approaches to connecting the two roads: a roundabout versus a "T" intersection with traffic signals.

"The big question mark is the proximity to the railroad track throws a wrinkle into everything," said Steve Lutz city manager. "I don't think we can sit here today and say if that will be a detrimental impact, a positive impact or no impact."

Burgess & Niple will look at existing data from studies the city has already done, visit the site, use a modeling tool to depict what would happen to the traffic at the connection and nearby railroad tracks under both scenarios, conduct a safety analysis of each and estimate a rough cost of each method.

Plans to connect Murphy Parkway to South Liberty Street have been discussed as part of a solution to lessen traffic congestion in downtown Powell. The city has no funds for capital improvements, such as extending the parkway.

Earlier this year, council asked city staff to have the project engineered and ready to proceed should any federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars become available.

Lutz has said the city can afford to pay for the cost to engineer the project -- estimated to be around $200,000 -- but not construct it.

The contract also states the company's findings and a presentation to the council will be "informational in nature and will not necessarily contain a definitive recommendation or conclusion."

Lutz said in the past council has requested that "consultants identify pros and cons and not make a recommendation."

Mayor Tom Counts said, "We're going to spend close to $20,000 and it's going to come back to us and I'm not sure for $20,000 we're going to end up with any more information than we currently have. The railroad tracks are the $100,000 question whether (a method) solves the problem or creates more problems."

Council member Art Schultz, who introduced the roundabout alternative into the Murphy Parkway discussion in September, said the study will compare with detail the two methods, necessary for council to make an informed decision.

Council member David Lackey said, "This is a very important intersection in the southern entrance to our city. We've been looking at it for 10 years now or more. ... For something this important, we should have a study of this nature so that we can have more objective information."

Counts remained unconvinced and voted against the appropriation. Council members Schultz, Richard Cline, Don Grubbs, Lackey and Jim Hrivnak approved the appropriation on first reading. Council member Dan Wiencek was absent from the meeting.