HOULTON – Local automobile operators, secure your vehicle’s shocks and axles: The state’s reconstruction project for one of the town’s most formidable roads has been pushed back another year.

Leigh Stilwell, public works director for the town, broke the news about the Bangor Street project on Tuesday evening to the town’s Roads 2000 committee, which assists in overseeing streets and sidewalks.

“The [Bangor Street] project missed Maine Department of Transportation funding when they voted on it in Augusta,” Stilwell explained at the meeting.

Stilwell estimated that the project would likely be funded in 2005 and that work would begin in 2006.

The state-owned route, notoriously known by locals for the depth of its potholes, provides access to nearby Hodgdon and is heavily traveled. The volume of traffic and onset of spring weather combine each year to pepper the road with additional cracks and potholes, which the public works crews continue to repair, according to Stilwell.

The Bangor Street project is going to be a substantial one, Stilwell said. “I know a lot of people are not happy that it has been pushed back another year.”

“All of our roads are important,” committee member Gerald Wilson acknowledged, “but Bangor Street is a big problem … the potholes are terrible.”

“I agree that it is a problem,” Stilwell said. “But we’re doing the best that we can, and at this point, all we can do it patch it.”

Town Councilor Phil Bernaiche, who also sits on the committee, said at the meeting he felt the town was spending money to repair roads that weren’t a high priority.

“I don’t understand why we need to do anything with Buffalo Street,” Bernaiche said. “You people are fixing roads that don’t need to be fixed.”

Buffalo Street, a short route just off Bangor Street, provides access to several local businesses and a series of warehouses used by local business owners and residents.

“Buffalo Street was supposed to be repaired last year,” Stilwell said. “We put it off for a year, but it has a water problem and the road is sagging to the left.”

“I think that Buffalo Street was targeted because of some potential development that could occur in that area,” Wilson said at the meeting. “The repairs could help people get to the warehouses easier.”

Stilwell told the group that public works crews were set to repair Prospect Street and Powers Avenue and had already repaired a short section of Putnam Avenue, which leads to Houlton Regional Hospital.

Stilwell said he had talked with residents of Carr Avenue, which was also targeted this year for maintenance work. Stilwell said some residents told him that work on the street could probably wait, comments that Stilwell said he would take into consideration.

“It’s tough,” Stilwell said. “There is only so much money to spread around.”