Commuters who take La Mirada Boulevard should expect minor delays next semester, as road repaving north of University Drive is set to begin in January, according to city officials.

La Mirada Boulevard will be narrowed to one lane from Leffingwell Road to University Drive in each direction for about 30 days, according to Steve Forster, La Mirada’s director of public works. The whole project is expected to last three to four months -— the majority, if not the entirety, of spring semester. A specific start date is yet to be determined.

“We’ll certainly have some degree of delays as a result of that,” Forster said. “But we hope to mitigate that to the best of our abilities.”

Prior to repairing and resurfacing that portion of road, workers will install sidewalks, curbs, gutters and handicap ramps, Forster said.

Ken Bascom, Biola’s senior director of facilities planning, wasn’t too worried about the construction’s impact on Biolans.

“It’s going to affect Biola very little because they’ve already done resurfacing work from our entrance, south,” Bascom said.

Nevertheless, Bascom advised commuters to allow a little extra time for travel in spring.

Forster said the city received federal stimulus funds for the project.

“… This happened to be one of the shovel-ready projects that we had available to [use] those funds,” Foster said.

California has received more than $8 billion to date of its awarded $18.5 billion from February’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, according to recovery.gov. The federal stimulus designates more than $150 billion for public works projects like transportation.

Construction will take place between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m., Forster said, and the road won’t be closed at any time. To relieve traffic congestion, construction will be adjusted according to peak times. Orange-based R.J. Noble is the project’s contractor.

“We have a good relationship with the public works department,” Bascom said. “I have every reason to believe that if this were going to affect us, they would have said so.”

Second-year graduate student Christian Andres, an ICS major, said he’d be affected by the construction only if he takes La Mirada Boulevard to areas north of the city like West Covina.

“I usually take Rosecrans [Avenue] to La Mirada [Boulevard],” said Andres, a four-year resident of La Mirada. “I don’t hit that area of La Mirada Boulevard, so I should be fine.”