FERNDALE - Progress on the Main Street widening project has been aided by fair weather over the past couple months, but road crews will work this weekend to stay on target for an early-November finish.

Work can be expected between Douglas and Church roads from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 13-14. Traffic in both directions could be restricted to a single lane, which may cause delays.

At the earliest, the last layer of asphalt will be put down starting Nov. 5, project manager Katy Radder said.

The weekend shifts are needed because even with the good weather, the project is about 10 days behind schedule, Radder said.

No single problem caused the delay. There are a lot of unforeseeable challenges with a road project this large, Radder said.

"It's quite common to run into issues that may impact the schedule," she said.

The $3.6 million job, given to RAM Construction of Bellingham, widens Main Street from Douglas to Church Road, a distance of about three quarters of a mile. It includes about a mile of stormwater pipe and a stormwater pond roughly the size of a high school track, Radder said.

Wet weather is in the forecast, but the work scheduled for this weekend can be done if the rain isn't too heavy, the project manager said.

The project remains within budget. The city received at least $2.871 million in state grants to help cover the cost.

Reach RALPH SCHWARTZ at ralph.schwartz@bellinghamherald.com or call 360-715-2289. Read the Politics Blog at blogs.bellinghamherald.com/politics.