AUGUSTA — Residents overwhelmingly approved a proposal Tuesday to borrow nearly $5.4 million to fix deteriorating streets, a rusted fire truck, and an inadequate public works ventilation system, and make several major infrastructure improvements at the aging Augusta Civic Center.

Those projects, and several others, were planned within the next year or so as part of a larger $133.5 million, five-year capital improvement plan to address infrastructure needs in the city.

The bond referendum was approved by a vote of 3,409 to 1,543.

Road and street repair projects account for just under $2 million of the bond proposal that went to voters this year, and include streets designated in a 2022 assessment as having outlived their service life.

The bonding would also provide $500,000 for a new maintenance shop ventilation system at the John Charest Public Works Facility. While the city may need to replace the public works facility as recommended by a consultant in 2023, city officials said the ventilation fix can’t wait.

The borrowing plan would also provide $400,000 for a new roof and $275,000 for a new entrance ramp at Buker Community Center.

Bond funds would also address multiple infrastructure issues at the city-owned Augusta Civic Center. The facility, which hosts conferences, conventions and sports tournaments, would get $500,000 for a new air conditioning chiller system, $400,000 for a new boiler system, $250,000 for a new auditorium sound system, and $180,000 for new fire doors and other fire code compliance items.

City Clerk Kelly Gooldrup said consolidating all voting at the city-owned building Tuesday appeared to go smoothly and was well-received by most voters.

The polls were consolidated from the city’s previous four voting ward locations for the first time since a city council vote to centralize all voting other than absentee voting at the Civic Center.

“It’s been mostly positive,” Gooldrup said of residents’ reactions to the consolidated polling location.

She said other than a rush of voters between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., which is typical as people get out of work and come to vote, waiting lines to vote were rare.

The city provided two vans, one of which is accessible by people in a wheelchair, to give people rides from the former ward polling sites to the Civic Center, and back. She said she’d heard from voters who used and appreciated the vans to get to the polls.

About 3,215 Augusta residents had voted by 6:30 p.m., at the polls, and the city also received about 2,200 absentee ballots. The city has about 12,000 registered voters.