AUSTIN — North Main Street may be shut down for several months, but the city is taking steps to ensure businesses won’t be.

City staff are setting up makeshift gravel roads along businesses on the western side of North Main Street from First Drive to Eighth Avenue.

“We’ve made arrangements with all affected businesses,” said Public Works Director Steven Lang.

North Main Street will close on May 5 or soon after and will be shut down for several months for construction work on the Cedar River with the North Main Flood Control Project. The street is scheduled to open in November.

Contractors will build gravel roads connecting business parking lots between the Cedars of Austin and the Austin YMCA. Lang said the gravel roads are so residents can access those businesses, as the detour for North Main Street will be Fourth Avenue Northwest.

Several city reconstruction projects will likely start in May, though the city hasn’t bid any projects out yet, according to Lang. The earliest projects, such as Eighth Avenue Southwest from 12th to 18th streets and the Kaufman Park Area (Ninth Avenue Southeast from the abandoned railroad to Eighth Street, 10th Avenue Southeast from the railroad to Eighth Street, 11th Avenue Southeast from the railroad to Eighth Street, Sixth Street Southeast from Eighth to 10th Avenue, and Seventh Street Southeast from Eighth to 11th Avenue), could start as soon as May 19.