LEWISTON – Crews will begin digging Lisbon Street next month, replacing a major downtown water main.

It should be the biggest traffic-clogging piece of road work in Lewiston this summer.

“There’s not a whole lot going on, and that’s kind of nice for a change,” Public Service Director David Jones said.

Crews from Northern Utilities spent the last three summers working along Lewiston roads, replacing cast-iron natural gas lines. But Northern Utilities has finished most of its work in Lewiston and has moved across the river to Auburn this year. Crews from that company began work replacing gas lines along Center Street last month.

The city opened bids on the Lisbon Street project last week.

Jones said road crews from Pratt and Sons of Mechanic Falls were the lowest bidders on the Lisbon Street project, agreeing to replace the water line for $257,140. He expects them to begin work in the next three to four weeks. The project entails replacing a 10-inch, cast-iron water line between Pleasant and Winn streets.

Lewiston crews were scheduled to do the project last summer, but it was shelved in July when city crews began replacing old iron pipes delivering rusty water to several south and west Lewiston homes.

Jones said city crews will continue cleaning and lining older cast-iron pipes this summer, but that work should not cause traffic delays. Paving work around the city won’t begin for several weeks, he said.