DIXFIELD – Motorists driving between Dixfield and East Dixfield along Route 2 should give themselves extra time to reach their destinations beginning next week when a major $3.5 million road construction project is scheduled to begin.

Shane Amoroso, Maine Department of Transportation engineer for the project, said Monday that delays can be expected on a two-mile stretch beginning about a half-mile north of Canton Point Road then progressing 1.85 miles easterly toward Wilton.

MDOT employees were posting signs Monday. Heavy equipment is expected to arrive late this week or early next, he said.

K&K Excavation of Turner is the general contractor.

He said delays can be expected from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. The project should be completed by June or July of 2009.

Some blasting to straighten several sharp curves will take place during construction. The largest realignment of the highway will take place near Porter Road. Several other curves will be straightened as the project progresses.

The project includes digging up the road bed, adding gravel and sub-base, and new pavement. The four-foot shoulders will be replaced by eight-foot ones. The 12-foot travel lanes will remain that width.

The project is similar to one completed about three years ago when another two-mile stretch of Route 2 in Dixfield was realigned and reconstructed.

He said a third project, to straighten a sharp curve near Canton Point Road, is in the design stage. That project may begin in about three years.