ROBERTDALE, Ala. -- The Robertsdale City Council voted Tuesday to approve an agreement between the city and the Alabama Department of Transportation for intersection improvements at Highway 59 and County Road 48.

The intersection improvements will be part of an Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program (ATRIP) grant project, which was approved in 2013 by Gov. Robert Bentley.

According to the agreement Federal ATRIP funds will provide an estimated $868,184 in funds with an estimated $217,046 provided by the city for an estimated total project cost of $1,085,230 with plans to connect the intersection with the Baldwin Beach Express.

Plans call for the placement of a traffic light at the intersection along with other infrastructure improvements. After failing to meet the Dec. 6 deadline, bids are scheduled to be let on Jan. 31 and construction set to begin in February.

The intersection improvements are part of an agreement signed in September between the city and Walmart Real Estate Business Trust.

According to the agreement, the city will provide infrastructure improvements to the property, which will also include construction of a public sewer lift station and related sewer lines; and extending the city’s water line to the property.

Mayor Charles Murphy announced at Tuesday’s meeting that the placement of water lines to the property has been completed and should be operational this week.

All other improvements should be completed by the time construction of the Walmart SuperCenter is completed this summer.

Original plans called for the completion of the 127,000-square-foot-facility in June, but delays have pushed the estimated completion date back to August, officials have said.

Plans are reportedly to construct a Walmart SuperCenter with a full retail center, grocery, garden center and pharmacy, but will not include a full service automotive center. Plans also call for three 1-acre out parcels located on Highway 59 which can be used for further development.

The facility should include about 130 employees with an approximate annual payroll of over $4 million.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., founded by Sam Walton in Rogers, Ark., in 1962, now based in Bentonville, Ark., boasts nearly 9,000 stores in 15 countries under 55 different names.

The new store in Robertsdale will join five other Walmart SuperStore locations in Baldwin County – Bay Minette, Daphne, Fairhope, Foley and Gulf Shores -- along with a Walmart Marketplace store located in Orange Beach.

The grant for the intersection improvements is one of four grants received in 2013 under the federal ATRIP program.

In other business Tuesday, the council voted unanimously to award engineering services to Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood Inc. at a cost of $51,625.

Services will be paid for as part of a $450,000 Community Development Block Grant program to rehabilitate damaged sewer lines.

In December, the council voted to accept the grant announced by Gov. Robert Bentley in November.

Robertsdale will complete a project to insert a liner inside broken clay pipes to eliminate frequent sewage leaks. The project will rehabilitate 12,750 feet of pipe in neighborhoods near Highway 59 just south of Illinois Street. The city is contributing $45,000 toward the project.

The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is administering the grants from funds made available by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. ADECA administers an array of programs supporting law enforcement and traffic safety, economic development, energy conservation, workforce development, water resource management and recreation development.

The council also voted to approve the personnel list for the Robertsdale Volunteer Fire Department at Tuesday’s meeting.

Robertsdale Fire Chief Michael Lucas announced recently that the city’s Public Protection Classification rating has dropped from a five to a four following an analysis of the department’s structural fire suppression delivery system by the International Organization for Standardization.

This lower rating will be effective as of Aug. 1 and will likely result in reduced fire insurance rates for residents in the city’s fire jurisdiction.

“The strictly volunteer department’s devotion to training, quick response times and maintenance of equipment and apparatus all contributed to the city’s new PPC,” Lucas said. “The members of the fire department are proud to serve their community with a lower rating.”