Design work on an extension of Southeast 62nd Street is moving full steam ahead, but don’t expect to drive on new asphalt anytime soon — the project is up to two years away from going to bid to construction contractors, according to Issaquah’s public works director.

Director Sheldon Lynne and senior consultants and stakeholders went before the Issaquah City Council March 24 to update lawmakers on the past month-and-a-half of work on the extension, part of a three-project suite to be partially financed by Costco Wholesale Corporation as part of its massive expansion agreement with the city.

Southeast 62nd Street currently runs southwest from Southeast Black Nugget Road and ends in a fork west of East Lake Sammamish Parkway Southeast. Once complete, Southeast 62nd Street will run directly to Pickering Place and Costco’s facilities therein,  bridging Issaquah Creek near the Pickering Trail.

Lynne said city Public Works and Engineering recently held a major meeting with consultants, subconsultants and Costco officials on the project.

“We actually established some different disciplinary teams to deal with the issues of transportation, environment, structural engineering, as well as … established an executive committee for oversight over the whole process and making sure that the design team and all the subs were continuing down the correct path to meet the schedule and the goals of the city here.”

One of those consultants, Project Principal Brian Sourwine of Gray & Osborn, confirmed six subconsultants retained to deal with unique circumstances of the project, including impacts to the environment and impacts to traffic from road features like a planned traffic circle on the street’s intersection with East Lake Sammamish Parkway.

Beginning last week, Gray & Osborn commissioned Environmental Science Associates to study the land the street would cross.

“If you’re familiar with the area, there’s a large number of wetlands,” Sourwine said. “So that’s where ESA comes in and delineates those wetlands so we know exactly what their limits are and (so we are) trying to minimize our impact on sensitive areas there.”

The street’s design is presently 30 percent complete. Sourwine said the next phase of design on the road will continue through the end of this year, with final design expected to be complete by late 2016 or early 2017.

In addition to Gray & Osborn, the city has retained KBA Construction Management of Bellevue as a consultant. KBA Principal K. Adams said he expected the road to last “100 years” once it was complete.

The project is anticipated to go to bid for construction by March 2017, Lynne said.