LIVERMORE FALLS – Reconstruction of a section of Route 4 that runs through the downtown area from Bridge Street here to Pineau Street in Jay will have to wait at least two more years.

The project did not make the Maine Department of Transportation’s proposed fiscal 2008 and 2009 capital work plan.

The proposal is listed on the Web site www.mainedot.gov, which needs to still go before the Legislature. The delay disappointed economic development leaders in the area, who contacted state representatives this week to look into why the project was not in the plan.

The state held preplanning meetings several years ago on the reconstruction of the road and had initially announced the project would be done a few years ago, with the timeline continually extended. Towns had applied for grants to help replace sewer and water mains. Livermore Falls was awarded at least one grant to go with the project.

Town Manager Martin Puckett was unavailable for comment Wednesday. Livermore Falls Betterment Group President Phil Poirier said more research needed to be done before the group comments on the state’s plan.

Jay Town Manager Ruth Marden said she hadn’t reviewed the state’s proposal to comment on it.

DOT Region 3 Manager Norm Haggan said it is a funding issue.

“We know there is a need for a lot of projects,” he said, but the state has had to prioritize.

The DOT has road and bridge improvement projects planned for the area that are listed on the state’s Web site.

One proposal is for $453,000 to do a paving rehabilitation project on Crash Road, a state-aid road that runs from Route 4 in Livermore to Riley Road in Jay, which connects to Route 4. The work would strengthen Crash Road, widen it and pave the shoulders, Haggan said.

The pavement is being ground in a Turner/Buckfield project, and that material is slated to be piled at the Crash Road site for use in the next year.

That $453,000 wouldn’t go very far on Route 4 in the Livermore Falls/Jay project, Haggan said. He also said there is no intention to reroute Route 4 up Crash Road to avoid downtown Livermore Falls and Jay.

“We’re doing all the paving projects we can” within the proposed funding, he said. “It’s like putting a roof on a house. It keeps the water out of the base. It’s a real good prevention investment.”

Escalating material costs and revenue uncertainties among other issues have forced the DOT to put off proposed projects.

The DOT, primarily due to higher construction costs, has had to defer, cancel, or rescope more than $200 million worth of capital projects in dozens of communities prior to the new proposed work plan, according to DOT Commissioner David Coles’ letter to the 123rd Maine Legislature, also listed on the state’s Web site.

More than 20 percent of the highway and bridge resources in the capital program are being applied to projects that at one time were considered fully funded, Cole wrote.

If the proposed plan is approved and funding becomes available, the DOT will invest nearly $775 million in capital projects and provide $41 million in multimodal transit operating costs, Cole wrote.

Nearly 63 percent of the funding is anticipated to come from federal resources. The state’s share, which is nearly 33 percent, incorporates the governor-proposed and Legislature-approved $123 million bond package. It also assumes $50 million in additional capital funding from a federal bond or other source.