RUMFORD – Work began Tuesday morning to replace and resize sidewalks on Lowell Street. Also included in the Public Works capital improvement project is the creation of a buffer between the Dunkin’ Donuts drive-through and Portland Street.

Town Manager Steve Eldridge said Tuesday afternoon that the sidewalk is not the proper width, nor is it handicap accessible.

Coupled with the Downtown Revitalization project, the project entails making extensive changes to the street’s edges and that of Portland Street. And, pending the outcome of the Monday, Aug. 14, Downtown Revitalization Committee meeting, new street lights could be placed along Lowell Street.

Eldridge said the sidewalk will be 5 feet wide and have wheelchair ramps. No parking spaces are to be lost in the changes, but Lowell Street will be narrower than it was, but not so narrow that a fire engine can’t get through. Engineers, Eldridge said, had assured him of that.

The town’s property and Dunkin’ Donuts property will be better marked, and shrubs or some type of landscaping barrier will be erected around the Congress Street establishment to prevent drive-through customers from accidentally venturing onto Portland Street, the town manager said.

“The drive-through is being redone to be safer,” he added.

Additionally, the narrow, paved sidewalk from DiConzo’s Restaurant to Dunkin’ Donuts will be replaced with a wider cement sidewalk.

But, sidewalk on the west side of Lowell Street won’t be replaced due to basements extending beneath them from buildings lining the street.

Eldridge said Rumford is trying to get a $400,000 community development block grant to complete the municipal makeover.