A massive rebuild of the West Loop 610 and Interstate 69 interchange near The Galleria is likely to start later this year, with a familiar contractor at the helm.

Bids for the project were opened Tuesday in Austin. Williams Brothers Construction, a fixture of local road building, was the apparent low bidder at $258.8 million, just below estimates by the Texas Department of Transportation.

The project will rebuild all of the connections between Loop 610 and I-69, also U.S. 59 in the Houston area, as well as rebuild all of the main lanes of the Loop through the area.

Officials have said they expect the project to be completed by 2021, though the bid proposal with Williams includes 2,030 working days. That’s roughly nine years of work.

Transportation officials have said the project is vital to relieving congestion by reducing sudden merges to and from the freeways.

As it is close to many offices and businesses – and the area inundated by Christmas shoppers annually – officials are working on an intricate plan to avoid delays, though some major detours and closings are inevitable.

The project is one of three in the Houston area accelerated by additional transportation money approved by voters in 2014 and 2015, which the Texas Transportation has begun doling out.

Williams Brothers also in June won the $142.4 million job to add a third lane in each direction to Interstate 10 from FM 359 to the Brazos River.

The third project, a portion of the ongoing widening of Interstate 45 toward Galveston, began in June.