LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen will hold a special meeting Friday to award a contract for earthwork on the new bike and walk path along Foundry Road.

Town Manager Jim Chaousis said four bids were received and opened on Thursday.

The total cost of the nearly ¾-mile project is estimated at $223,000 with the town responsible for 20 percent of it, which is about $44,000.

Voters had raised some of the town’s share in previous years and the remainder of the town’s portion will come out of leftover Community Development Grants from a prior project, Chaousis said. The bulk of the project is being paid for through federal and state grants.

The path, which has been shortened and revamped since its early planning stages in 2003, will run from right behind the Police Station on Foundry Road to just past Verso Paper’s carry-in boat launch on the Androscoggin River. It will be 10 feet wide and be a slightly different pavement than the regular road.

The select board’s special meeting to award the contract will be at 5 p.m. on Sept. 18 at the town office.

Eight bid packages were taken out and four were returned. Those were from: Jean Castonguay Excavation of Livermore Falls, $99,042.50; C.H. Stevenson of Wayne, $99,085; E.L. Vining & Son of Farmington, $126,933; and Pratt & Sons Inc. of Minot, $112,839.

The bids have been sent to Wright-Pierce engineering firm to be reviewed to make sure they meet specifications, Chaousis said. Both he and the firm will make recommendations to selectmen before the contract is awarded.

It was estimated that the earthwork associated with the project would cost $114,000, Chaousis said.

The town was able to save money on the project by having the town act as contractor and having the Highway Department do clearing, tree removal and culvert replacement. That work has already started.

Bruce A. Manzer of Anson will subcontract for the paving. He won the town’s contract to providing paving this year.

Chaousis commended highway foreman Billy Nichols for bidding out the paving package at the right time and with the correct specifications that also covered the bike-walk path.

There are no town highway funds being used, Chaousis said.

All of the work that the Highway Department is doing is being recorded as per Maine Department of Transportation standards so that the town will be reimbursed for the 80 percent share that the state is responsible for, he said. The other 20 percent, which the town is responsible for, will come out of the $44,000 already raised or designated toward the project.

There are other costs associated with the project, including design, administration and legal fees, and that is where the total cost of the project comes from.

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