OXFORD — The town’s largest construction project of the summer shouldn’t create delays for motorists traveling along Route 26, an engineer said. 

Construction will begin toward the end of June on a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment facility, connected by 2.5 miles of sewer pipes stretching along Route 26 from Rabbit Valley Road near the Oxford Casino to the Welchville Dam at the intersection of Route 121.

Unlike road resurfacing and maintenance projects, disruptions to the flow of traffic will be mitigated because the installation of the sewer pipes will, in most cases, occur on the road’s shoulder. 

According to Brent Bridges, senior vice president of Woodard and Curran company of Portland, engineers expect two-way traffic to be maintained through the duration of the project. 

Bridges, whose engineering firm is overseeing the overall planning aspects of the project, said in an interview Thursday that disruption to the normal flow of traffic will be minimal. 

According to the engineer’s timeline, crews will begin laying pipes at Pigeon Hill southbound to Rabbit Valley Road by the second week in July.  

A month into the project, installation will transition down the hill and pipes will be laid beneath Route 26 where they’ll eventually connect to residential houses.

In instances where the sewer pipes have to cross the road, crews will drill beneath the road bed to lay pipes. 

“July and August shouldn’t be that disruptive,” Bridges said.  

Engineers are devising an email list to keep residents updated on traffic conditions, he said.  

The longest single project is over a 40-day span beginning in October to run sewer pipes over the Little Androscoggin River, which requires longer, more mechanical-intensive preparations.

Last December, selectmen chose Ovivo USA to build the facility’s membrane-treatment equipment, which is currently in storage and will be installed once the facility is completed. Bidding for the sewage facility building is expected to begin in September. 

Simultaneous survey work throughout the summer and fall will take place for the second phase of the project, where sewer pipes will be extended along King Street and into rural, residential areas of town.

In April, the town received $23.7 million in federal money to finance the second phase of the project. 

Bidding for the second phase is expected to begin next winter.