AUGUSTA — Relief is at least two construction seasons away for motorists heading in and out of the city along one of the busiest sections of Western Avenue.

That’s a concern to nearby residents, who have asked in vain for temporary repairs in the meantime.

“It’s a jarring experience,” said Michael Byron, a Smith Street resident who is also the Ward 1 representative on the City Council. “You have to be very careful how you navigate.”

The state Department of Transportation has set a preliminary hearing Tuesday, Dec. 6, from 6 to 8 p.m. to gather comments on an estimated $5.57 million project to reconstruct just more than a half-mile of U.S. Route 202 between Edison Drive and Prescott Road. The hearing will be held in the Lecture Hall at City Center, 16 Cony St.

The project is scheduled to go to bid in the spring of 2013, with completion scheduled for November 2013.

That means the roadwork is coming late to at least a handful of Smith Street residents who were rebuffed when they asked the city to put a skim coat of pavement on that section of road last month.

They lost another bid for some temporary repairs shortly afterward when the state refused a request from state Rep. Maeghan Maloney, D-Augusta, to patch the area with any pavement leftover from a project along U.S. Route 202 in Manchester.

“Our concern is with the increasing structural gaps in the state budget,” Byron said. “We’re concerned whether those funds will stay intact — concerned all the money funded today may not be there at paving time in 2013.”

Byron and a half dozen other Smith Street residents advocated for temporary repairs, estimating that $12,000 to $13,000 “would do what we wanted to get over the next two winters,” Byron said.

Byron said the worst stretch of road is on the Smith Street side of Western Avenue.

The 2010 traffic count from the state Department of Transportation shows that about 23,000 vehicles a day pass over that stretch of road.

That is one of the busiest sections of Western Avenue. An estimated 1,700 vehicles per hour travel east through the traffic signal at Shuman Avenue during peak morning commuting time, according to Ernie Martin, project manager for the Department of Transportation.

The high volumes of traffic will make construction work difficult to schedule. Martin said there has been no decision yet on whether construction will take place during the day or at night.

“We’re basically looking at Shuman Avenue, and making a dedicated left turn lane both eastbound and westbound with a little widening going on to make that happen,” Martin said Monday.

The full reconstruction project, which affects 0.6 mile of road, includes reworking drainage, replacing a culvert in Rockwood Brook and raising the road level throughout the corridor.

“It’s poorly built, has poor structure, poor drainage, poor sight lines and is in a high accident location,” Martin said. “It is a safety issue, and it is a priority of the department to fix unsafe areas of highway.”

The public hearing will show the state’s proposed preliminary design. “We’re trying to enhance the corridor,” Martin said.

State officials say they take public comment and modify the design where necessary. A final public hearing will be held next year.

Martin said the state will acquire some land as part of the project, but not entire parcels.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

[email protected]