LEWISTON – Work starting today to replace a Lisbon Street water line will be the biggest project tying up city roads for the next few weeks.

Tight municipal budgets will mean fewer road maintenance traffic tie-ups this summer, according to city officials.

City water crews are scheduled to begin a water line replacement project on Lisbon Street between Pleasant and Reed streets Monday. Traffic will be down to one lane in either direction because of that project.

Road crews only have two major road maintenance projects scheduled for the rest of the summer. Both begin in July, according to city engineering technician Wes Enman.

“We’d really like to go out and do more, but it’s not in the budget,” he said. “We’ll do as much as we can this year to keep things going.”

Crews will concentrate on putting new layers of asphalt on parts of Randall Road and Webster Street next month. The city also is also planning smaller maintenance work on nine other residential streets later this summer.

“It’s a pretty quiet year, and some people like that,” Enman said. “We’re not going to be out in the streets as much. But on the other side, we’d really like to be making some big improvements.”

City officials have blamed the rising costs of oil for the increased road repair costs. Oil is used in making asphalt.

Other city crews will be continuing to clean and concrete line the city’s water pipes on nine city streets this summer. That involves digging small trenches over the pipes every 300 feet and then using a drill to scrap the insides and coat them with concrete.

Water line cleaning and lining work is scheduled for McArthur, Jones and Clearwater avenues, Pineland, Pineview, Balsam, Ventura and Lexington streets and on Martin Drive. Those projects are scheduled to begin later this month or early in July.