AUBURN — A mile-long section of Park Avenue will get new drainage, a new sidewalk and see most of its potholes paved over beginning in September, according to the Maine Department of Transportation.

The DOT will begin advertising for bids in mid-July and should select a contractor in August, according to Stephen Bodge, assistant manager of highway projects.

Bodge said he expects work to wrap up in August 2017.

Crews will do mostly drainage work in 2016, tearing up old pavement and widening the road. They’ll put down a base layer of asphalt before winter and finish it with a final layer of asphalt next spring.

“They can do underground work during the winter, build drainage structures and utilities,” Bodge said. “Every time we improve drainage and get that water out from under the road, we can get a longer-lasting road structure. And we are looking to build a long-lasting road here.”

Plans call for a significantly wider road. The project runs from Summer Street south to Lake Street, approximately 1.09 miles. That stretch will get 11-foot travel lanes for cars and bikes with 5-foot-wide shoulders on each side. The east side of the street will get a new, 5-foot-wide sidewalk as well.

“It’s obviously a project designed to improve safety,” he said. “It should be better for the traveling public and for pedestrians, with the new sidewalk.”

The sidewalk runs for about a third of the road, from Lake Street north to the United Methodist Church at 439 Park Ave.

The state has budgeted $3.8 million for the entire project.

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