LEWISTON – Road crews hope to finish the worst of a messy Canal Street repaving project on Saturday, when downtown traffic is most light.

“We need to get this work done Saturday because if we don’t, it messes up everything next week,” said Al Richard, project engineer for the Lewiston Public Works Department.

Weather permitting, crews from Pike Industries will close Canal Street from Main to Ash Street at 6:30 a.m. Saturday and reopen it after 4:30 p.m. that day.

The stretch of Canal between Main and Ash is the narrowest part of the road, with room for one car.

“We barely have enough room for trucks and paving equipment, so there’s no way we’re going to be able to let cars go by,” Richard said.

If all goes well Saturday, crews will continue on Monday, working between Ash and Cedar streets. Traffic will be down to one lane for the entire stretch, and crews will close the intersections at Chestnut and Cedar streets on and off throughout the day.

Traffic will be down to one lane again Tuesday as crews pave the stretch between Cedar and Lisbon streets. Truck traffic will be detoured onto Lincoln Street.

Current weather forecasts call for rain Friday, clearing up on Saturday.

“So we feel pretty good that we can get it done,” Richard said.

Crews will continue intermittent work later in the week, finishing driveways, manholes and street drains. Road lines should be painted early in October.