By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- The village voted to advertise for bids Thursday for Aluminum Trail infrastructure work with hopes that the work can begin next year, according to Fred Mastroianni of Greenman-Pederson, Inc.

The firm aided in designing and engineering the project.

The town will accept bids beginning Jan. 9 at 2 p.m.

Mastroianni told the board that the contractor work will include installing light poles at the foot bridge between East Orvis Street and Liberty Avenue and refurbishing the foot bridge area. The foot bridge, which has seen much better days, will have its deck replaced with 10-foot-wide pre-cast concrete slabs. Between Willow Street and Liberty Avenue, a new five-foot-wide sidewalk and curbing will be installed along the east side of the street. The north side of the foot bridge will get a new seven spot parking lot. Mastroianni said the original project called for new trees and additional landscaping, but “unfortunately when we designed [the original] system, the cost was too high,” he told the board.

The village will provide bidders with full specifications on a CD.

The project will be partially funded by a federal Transportation Enhancement Program (TEP) grant to the tune of $1,153,800, which is 80 percent of the cost initially estimated when the town went for TEP about seven years ago. The current estimated cost is $1,681,000.

But the village’s overall contribution will be $336,200, Village of Massena Public Works Office Superintendent Hassan Fayad has previously stated.

So far, the village has paid out $57,600 to Greenman-Pederson, Inc., which is 20 percent of the $288,000 engineering cost. The remaining 80 percent was covered by the grant program.