BUCKFIELD – Drivers using Route 117 in Buckfield and Turner can expect to encounter construction equipment, work crews and minor delays beginning Monday, Sept. 18, according to the Maine Department of Transportation.

The 6.5-mile project will begin at the intersection of routes 117 and 140 in Buckfield. It will extend to the intersection of Route 4 in Turner, said project manager Jeffrey Wallace.

“We’ll be making a variety of improvements, depending upon the specific conditions at various locations along the project,” Wallace said in a prepared statement.

Work will include changes to eliminate or reduce humps and dips to ease some of the curves in the roadway. In some locations, MDOT will put a variable-depth layer of gravel on top of the existing roadway to form the base for new pavement. In other areas, crews will be building completely new road beds.

They also will make drainage and safety improvements and build a new box culvert to carry Bog Brook under Route 117 just east of Route 124 in Turner.

The contractor, K&K Excavation, expects to concentrate its efforts on clearing, ditching and installing drainage pipes under the existing roadway this fall, Wallace said.

“We don’t expect to be doing any gravel or paving work this fall and the construction of the new culvert at Bog Brook also will be scheduled for next year,” he said. Drivers can expect to encounter minor delays in areas where crews are working.

The $5.8 million project is set to be completed by June 2008.