Roadworks at Wellington Street, Longford, are on schedule to finish early next month. Picture: GEOFF ROBSON
WORK on a $1 million reconstruction of part of Longford's main street will resume this week after a Christmas break by government contractors.
The rehabilitation work on the street - which is designated a highway - started last November and has involved extensive excavation of the existing road from the railway line at the northern entrance to town.
Digging to depths of up to almost a metre was necessary because of the extent of ground water and "crap soil" - a technical term, according to an Infrastructure Department spokeswoman.
The project is only half- completed but still on schedule to be finished by early next month, the spokeswoman said.
Northern Midlands Mayor Kim Polley said that the community had been disappointed that the works had taken so long.
The department spokeswoman said that work had been designed to ensure the least possible disruption to road users with one side of the road being worked on at a time so that one lane was always open to traffic.
She said that the reinstatement of the traffic island and pedestrian crossing would be done early this month.
The second section of works, from Union Street to Lyttleton Street, had already started.
"However, the location of trees will slow progress down and a detour may be necessary at times during some of the works," the spokeswoman said.
When completed, the highway through the middle of the town will give road users greater safety because of the improved surface, the spokeswoman said.