NORWAY — The Board of Selectmen gave the go-ahead to Town Manager David Holt on Thursday night to sign an approximately $850,000 agreement with the Maine Department of Transportation to reconstruct lower Main Street.
Preliminary work will begin immediately but the actual reconstruction will not start until May or June of 2015, Holt said.
“I’m hopeful it will solve a number of problems we have been experiencing in that section,” Holt said. Drainage, sidewalks and parking are some of the issues.
The agreement with the state means the parties will each share 50 percent of the costs.
The section being rebuilt runs from the Second Congregational Church at the intersection of Paris Street to near Aubuchon Hardware. It has a mixture of commercial and residential properties, anchored by Stephens Memorial Hospital.
The board learned in April that the state had approved money for the project. In June, annual town meeting voters approved a $1.2 million bond to pay for the work.
The town is about to pay off a $1 million bond, which would make securing another bond easier, Holt said.
Holt said Rob Prue of Pine Tree Engineering will work with the town to design the project and put it out to bid.
“It’s a lot of money but it gets it done,” Holt said.
While Main Street in the downtown district is in need of work, Holt said that road project will take millions of dollars and is still years away.
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