With paving nearly complete on Watertown's Public Square, Villager Construction now has its sights set on State Street, which it has yet to complete.

The Fairport-based contractor will begin laying the final top course of pavement along the 1.4-mile stretch of State Street beginning Monday night. That work is scheduled to last until Tuesday night, said City Engineer Kurt W. Hauk.

Once the top course is finished, Villager will move back to Public Square to finish paving.

"They're raising valve boxes to the grade of the road," the engineer said. "It's a long way to pave, but they'll move right along."

Throughout the spring and summer, motorists have been forced to weave along the thoroughfare to miss the dozens of elevated manhole covers.

Villager was hired for both the $13.4 million State Street and $7.1 million Public Square reconstruction projects by the city. Workers began rebuilding State Street, between Eastern Boulevard and Public Square, in July 2005.

"They're doing a lot of work today and tomorrow buttoning things up, like curbs and some other things," Mr. Hauk said of Public Square.

Streetside parking in Public Square is open until the beginning of next week.

"It's going to be a long weekend so we want to give everyone a break with parking," Mr. Hauk said.

Villager will not work Friday because of the holiday.

Paving Public Square has hit a few snags since it began last month. Mechanical problems with the paver and short supplies of asphalt slowed the project last week.

Maneuvering the machinery around the curbing "bump outs" and traffic islands has forced Villager to take more time than expected, Mr. Hauk said.

"With the base material, it's thick and there's so much material," Mr. Hauk said. "It's slow work, but they did really well yesterday."

Once paving on Public Square is complete, the contractor will begin grading and cementing the sidewalks.

"That's the next big step," the city engineer said.

This week, crews began installing angled curbing around traffic islands that are susceptible to close calls with tractor trailers and other large vehicles. The specialized curbing is designed to be forgiving to tires that rub against it or run onto them.