NORWAY – Work on the Deering Street utility project is nearing completion.

Project Manager Robert Prue of Pine Tree Engineering in Bath said Friday that the final pavement is expected to be put down during the first week of November.

“The only holdup has been the relocation of utility poles,” he said. It’s now expected that pole removal and relocation will happen Oct. 31 and the final pavement will be put down that week, weather permitting.

By mid-November, work is set to be completed on the $320,000 project that will create a new town square and redo Deering Street’s antiquated sewer line system.

On Thursday, selectmen approved the drawdown of $95,385 from the town’s community development block grant and $33,667, the town’s portion, to pay the second bill for the Deering Street improvement project.

About $224,685 of the original contract price of $320,651 has been spent so far on excavation, storm drainage system, granite curbing, concrete pavers for the town square, parking and pavement.

The town is retaining 5 percent of the payment until the project is completed.

The plan calls for the front of L.M. Longley & Son’s parking lot to be excavated and made into a town square at the corner of Deering and Main streets. The pavement has been taken out and replaced by brick pavers, opening an area for people to sit and relax.

The town’s kiosk that was at Cottage and Main streets next to L.F. Pike & Son clothing store has been moved to the town square.

The parking lot, which has hosted the weekly Farmer’s Market, is being renovated leaving close to 40 parking spaces. While the project is under way, the Farmer’s Market has moved to an adjacent parking lot behind the Fare Share market off Whitman Street.

The work is being done by Pratt & Sons of Minot and includes reconstruction of Deering Street and replacement of sewer pipes that were installed in 1913.