Hamilton is side stepping its usual procurement rules to finish a long-awaited Waterdown bypass project about four months earlier.

City council voted Wednesday to hire Dillon Consulting for about $600,000 to do an updated detailed design of the new east-west road corridor. The city will approach the engineering firm, which is familiar with the project, to negotiate directly rather than getting bids from other companies.

Usually, the city would get competitive bids. But Judi Partridge, Ward 15 councillor, said Waterdown has waited for the bypass for 35 years, and this can't wait.

"Folks, my community has suffered a great deal," Partridge said.

"I am asking for my fellow councillors around the table to please support me in this. It is hugely important to my community."

Not everyone was convinced sole sourcing it was the way to go.

John-Paul Danko of Ward 8 (west Mountain) is an engineer. Sole sourcing means consultants have no incentive to save money, he said. And putting it out to a competitive bid would only cost about four months, he said. That's still the same construction season.

This map shows the portion of the east-west bypass that Dillon Consulting will do an updated design for. (City of Hamilton)

"Dillon would have a competitive advantage anyway," he said, "so there's no reason not to go to a competitive bid."

Maureen Wilson of Ward 1 (west end) also voted against sole sourcing.

The bypass has been a heated issue in Waterdown since the early 2000s.

That's when the city tried to slow an explosion of residential development in the village. In 2005, it lost that challenge against developers at the Ontario Municipal Board. That means the houses are there, but the roads to support the traffic are not. As a result, the village struggles with increased traffic woes.

The province didn't give final approval to the east-west bypass until 2013.

The bypass project is divided into several sections. The new Dillon design is for the portion of the bypass stretching from Centre Road to Avonsyde Boulevard, which is scheduled for construction in 2022. Another portion from Centre Road to Mosaic Drive, which will be built by developers, should be ready by the fall, Partridge said. The remaining portion from Mosaic Drive to Highway 6 is tied up in land negotiations and likely several years away.

A portion that runs north-south from Parkside Drive to Dundas Street is finished.

The City of Burlington is building a Waterdown Road corridor, likely in 2021. Halton Region is making improvements to part of Dundas Street and the timing of that is undetermined.

The Ministry of Transportation is also making improvements to the interchange at Highways 5 and 6, although the city isn't sure when that will happen.