The City of Norwich said trench restoration work will begin at Conkey and move south on Broad Street and is planned to be finished by Friday, September 29. DOT is continuing to mill East Main and Broad Street at night and work on the handicap ramps during the day. Paving will start next week. (Submitted photo)

NORWICH — Construction in the Norwich Business District will soon come to an end on October 31, Halloween; after many summer months of noisy heavy equipment, flags and hard hats, detours, dust, and torn up roads; residents are ready for this treat.

According to updates released by the City of Norwich, residents and business owners had stressed their concerns and questioned why construction wasn’t done at night, and how much longer must they endure the interruption to their businesses?

Norwich Mayor Brian Doliver said he understands the community frustrations and he too has been very frustrated as well with the project.

“I know at the end of the day this was the right thing to do. We took a 142-year-old four inch pipe from the water main and replaced it with a new eight inch pipe. In order for us to develop our downtown area, this was vital,” Doliver said. “Our concern was if we paved over it without restoration; we could have a water main break.

“The talk of businesses coming into our town with the possibility of a hotel and sending water from a four inch pipe originally fitted in 1881; it would not have been able to handle the job. There was no way around it. It had to be done,” he added.