FALMOUTH — A $12 million project to reconstruct a stretch of Route 100 in West Falmouth is headed to a town referendum in June.

The project is aimed at redesigning and repaving about 2 miles of the busy mixed-use area and adding sidewalks, public sewer and bicycle lanes to the corridor. If approved, the town could start construction on the project within a year.

Improving safety along the corridor is the primary aim, but installing new sewer and natural gas lines and improving pedestrian access could encourage economic development, said Andrea Ferrante, chairwoman of the Route 100 committee.

The Maine Department of Transportation has planned a reconstruction of that section of Route 100, marred by cracks and potholes, since 2001, but never moved the project forward, Ferrante said.

“This has been on the books for 15 years and the state has never done anything about it,” she said. “I think everybody is sort of ready for things to change on Route 100.”

If approved, construction would start in 2017 and take at least a year, said Town Manager Nathan Poore.

Roughly 13,000 vehicles a day travel through the Route 100 corridor, which is a thoroughfare for commuters between Portland and bedroom communities like Gray and a direct route from Portland to western Maine ski areas and outdoor recreation. The area around Route 100 has become a retail and employment hub, with the West Falmouth Crossing shopping center, numerous businesses and a TD Bank building, the largest employer in the area, according to a report from the committee. The traffic count is expected to increase to 18,000 vehicles a day within seven years,

The committee spent a year gauging public interest in the project. The message from residents was that they wanted to reclaim a sense of being a distinct neighborhood after years of development that turned the area into a busy commuter thoroughfare.

“The message from the work has been very clear: The residents and businesses of the Route 100 corridor want to make changes to this area in order to re-create and enhance the West Falmouth community,” the committee stated in its report.

The core of the project is a complete road reconstruction on a one-mile stretch from the Leighton Road intersection to the Libby Bridge over the Piscataqua River. In a handout about the project, the committee said the road “is severely deteriorated and does not safely accommodate either pedestrian or bicycle traffic.”

A redesign of intersections at Leighton and Mountain roads would add left-hand-turn lanes with dedicated turning signals, and the Mountain Road intersection would be straightened so it lines up with Falmouth Road, Ferrante said.

A century-old, 3-foot-deep layer of asphalt and concrete underneath the pavement would be torn out. New storm drains would be installed, as would new sewer lines and natural gas lines in anticipation of new development along the corridor. There are parcels north of the West Falmouth Crossing shopping center that could be developed and older properties that could be redeveloped, Ferrante said.

“It really discourages businesses from coming in when there is no sewer,” he said. “We want to make sure we are keeping up with things so that we can attract people that want to be in West Falmouth.”

The plan includes roughly 3 miles of sidewalks along Route 100 and Leighton and Falmouth roads, along with new trees planted along the corridor, to create a pedestrian-accessible area. The road would be widened by 5 feet on each side to create enough space for bicyclists, and a striped bike lane would be extended for more than a mile north from the construction area.

To pay for the $10.5 million construction, the town would pair $6 million in proposed borrowing with an expected $4 million grant from the Maine Department of Transportation, along with $500,000 from the balance of a development account within the West Falmouth Crossing Tax Increment Financing district. The district includes about 60 acres on either side of Route 100 around the West Falmouth Crossing development. The expected project cost, including $1.3 million in interest, is about $12.1 million.

The TIF, established in 1998, shelters new property-tax revenue from county and state assessment. The new tax revenue can be used to pay for economic development projects approved by the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.

Falmouth is proposing to use future revenue generated in the district to pay down $6 million in bonds for the project over the next 12 years. The town has applied to the state to extend the lifetime of the TIF by five years to 2024, in order to pay down the debt. It is also asking to remove 18 acres of public open space from the TIF district because the land is not taxable and will not be developed, said Poore. The main purpose of the district, according to the town’s application, is to pay for public improvements such as the Route 100 project.

The proposed construction comes on the heels of a $12 million reconstruction of the Route 1 commercial corridor on the east side of town.

Poore said Falmouth is already putting together a committee to plan the next large-scale infrastructure project, a renovation of Route 1 north of the Falmouth spur Interstate 295 ramp. The Town Council is reviewing bid proposals from developers to remove the spur ramp system in exchange for development land, and the Route 1 North project is expected to move forward along with that ramp system work, Poore said.