Drivers using Route 202 in Gray and New Gloucester can expect to encounter construction work zones from late April through mid-May, according to the Maine Department of Transportation.

“We’re going to be improving almost nine miles of roadway in Gray and New Gloucester,” said Joseph Darling, MDOT’s construction manager for the project. “The project area begins about one-quarter mile east of the Colley Hill Road near the Legion Hall in Gray and extends east for 8.8 miles, ending just south of the New Gloucester-Auburn town line.”

Darling says plans call for shimming or leveling the existing the roadway and roadside shoulder, then putting down a new paved surface. He says the schedule calls for installation of signs and other preparation work between now and the end of April, paving the shim or leveling course the first week in May, and paving the final surface the week of May 10 to 14.

He says drivers can expect one-lane traffic at times, with minor delays.

He urged drivers to use care approaching and driving through the work zone.

“It’s not the time for drivers to be talking on cell phones, applying make-up, shaving or reading the morning newspaper,” he said. “It’s a time for concentrating on the task of driving through a work zone with people and equipment in the roadway. It’s for the driver’s own safety as well as the safety of our workers.”

The contract for the project, awarded to Blue Rock Industries of Westbrook on a bid of just over $631,000, calls for completion of all work on the project by early June.