Residents along a stretch of Belleville Avenue under construction since July 2010 now have limited access that will allow them to get to and from their homes — but full access is still weeks away.

Ray Madden, manager of the City of Brewton Utilities Department, said the completion of a project that began last year is possibly still four weeks away.

“We’re 99 percent finished with the work on Belleville, but we still have some minor work to complete,” Madden said. “We are about another four weeks away from being completely finished with everything.”

The “everything” includes repair of residential yards disturbed by the construction as well as final paving of the roadway, Madden said.

“We’ve been watering grass and getting those kinds of things fixed,” Madden said. We are taking care of getting some yards straightened out along the construction route.”

Martin Construction of Atmore has been working on the project since last July with several delays during the process. The process also found the City of Brewton imposing a $500 per day fine for not completing the work by an acceptable deadline.

“The fines will continue until the work is done,” Madden said. “We are working with engineers and the contractors now to find the best solution for the issues we’re facing now in this process.”

Although officials hoped to meet the latest deadline of June 15, the chance of seeing that happen is slim, Madden said.

“It’s going to be another few weeks and we hope to have it completed then,” Madden said. “There is about a 200-foot section of Belleville Avenue that has some grading issues. We have to get that resolved quickly and get the work finished.”

Manholes along the stretch of Belleville Avenue from Underwood Street to Smith Lane are exposed and could cause drivers some problems if they travel along the road.

“People who have access to the stretch of road are driving there at their own risk,” Madden said. “There are still some problems there so we are limiting access to the roadway.”

The sewer project work along Belleville Avenue has seen several delays forcing the completion deadline ahead time and time again.

The work was originally expected to be completed by Dec. 15, 2010; however with weather conditions and other construction issues, the deadline was moved to Jan. 28, 2011. As work continued to creep along, the deadline was moved to March and finally to the new deadline of June 15.

Madden said the City of Brewton and Martin Construction are all anxious to see the completion of this project.