The City of Oneonta will shut down 1500 feet of West Street from Chestnut Street to Center Street.

The $1.9 million construction project will begin at the end of March and run through September.

“The existing concrete roadway will be removed in slabs,” Chris Yacobucci, Oneonta’s Public Works Director, said in a CNY interview. The comprehensive overhaul, “isn’t just the pavement work, they’re replacing all the water mains, sewer lines, drainage piping, sidewalks and curbs.”

There will also be handicapped accessibility ramps installed on the corners.

The existing roadway is in such poor condition it can’t be repaired, Yacobucci said. It will be replaced with eight inches of asphalt, which is the standard pavement for the city.

Recently NYSEG’s utility contractor DDS dug a wide trench down this section of roadway. They installed new natural gas mains but did a substandard job repaving the street.

Oneonta will sell bonds to pay for the work.

“The cost will be distributed over our water, sewer and other bonds that we have,” Gino Huggins, Oneonta’s Senior Civil Engineer, said in a CNY interview. “The work will all be done by RB Robinson of Candor, NY.”

The city is sending out letters to residents and businesses that will be affected by the street closure. “We are looking at traffic patterns,” Huggins said.

Traffic will be rerouted onto Church Street. Parking will be prohibited on High Street which will change from one-way to a two-way street during the construction period.