Next week, work on the anticipated million-dollar Center Street project in Clinton is slated to get underway.

After being forced to go to bid multiple times, Public Works Director Steve Lobb says they are finally to a point to get the project going. He reminds residents part of the reason the project is so expensive is because of ADA compliance regulations. 

The project will not be completed by the Apple n' Pork Festival, should it take place this year, but Lobb points out the project will be paused and the area on North Center Street cleared out for all the visitors to the annual festival.

According to Lobb, all the hurdles and hiccups in the process required them to continue to press on. He explains they had to adjust and adapt under circumstances that made such an effort difficult. 

Had the second round of bids still come back very high after adjustments to the plans, Lobb indicates they very well may have scrapped the project until next year but that would have almost guaranteed the bids still would be high because he has never seen construction costs decrease.

Lobb is still befuddled the reasons for initial bids coming in over budget and that has significantly decreased the amount of work they planned on doing this summer. He says bids the second time around still came in high but they were able to work within those numbers and make the project happen.