Two rural Gorham roads heavily utilized by commuters will undergo a $4.7 million transformation, possibly starting this month, after plans were shelved earlier this year because of a state money shortage.

Gorham Town Manager David Cole said this week that the Maine Department of Transportation would open construction bids on Wednesday, Oct. 10, for the Libby Avenue and Brackett Road project.

Herb Thomson, director of communications for the Maine Department of Transportation, said voter approval in June for a $100 million state bond referendum to improve roads and bridges enabled the state’s work plan to move forward. The Gorham project was included in that plan.

Gorham voters approved borrowing $1.3 million in 2005 as the local share of the reconstruction.

The state accepted bids for Libby Avenue and Brackett Road as one project. Cole said the project had been previously scheduled to go out to bid in April. But Gorham officials remained optimistic that the project would move forward. “The state was telling me it wasn’t canceled, just delayed,” Cole said.

The portion of Libby Avenue between Route 25 and New Portland Road and all of Brackett Road from New Portland Road to Saco Street will be rebuilt. Reconstruction will pave a 30-foot swath with two, 11-foot travel lanes and 4-foot shoulders.

The two roads, which intersect with New Portland Road, are classified as major urban collectors. Commuters use the two roads as a shortcut to Scarborough, South Portland and Portland from North Gorham and Windham. Department of Transportation figures say an average of 3,060 cars a day use that part of Libby Avenue with 3,660 cars a day traveling Brackett Road.

Cole said initial work would entail clearing the right of way, replacing culverts and resetting utility poles.

“The real stuff happens next year,” said Cole, who added winter weather would dictate work progress. “A nice winter might see a fair amount of work begin.”

Thomson said the project is scheduled for completion in November 2008.

Thomson said Libby Avenue-Brackett Road reconstruction is a project of the Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation Committee, which is a metropolitan planning organization serving 15 communities. He said the state informed PACTS last spring it had short-term cash problems.

Charles Leighton, a Brackett Road resident, said his road has big holes and cracks while handling up to six hours of heavy traffic each day during commuter rush hours.

“It needs it bad,” Leighton said about reconstruction. “It’s long overdue.”