PORT ORCHARD — The sounds of construction work is usually a welcome indicator of progress on the Tremont Street widening project.

That was especially apparent earlier this week for residents who live near the $21 million City of Port Orchard road project. Paving contractor crews closed Tremont from a point just east of the Pottery Avenue roundabout to the South Kitsap Boulevard roundabout overnight from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m., Monday through Wednesday, so the final layer of asphalt could be laid on the roadway, which has been reborn into a four-lane arterial.

Some final paving work east of Pottery remained to be done as of Thursday afternoon.

While this work segment is perhaps the most visible sign for residents that the Tremont project is in its final stages, there is still plenty left for crews to finish: landscaping, transit stops, signage and the like. Those final pieces of the project are expected to be done by early August, according to Port Orchard city officials.

While the street-widening project undertaken by Active Construction, the winning contractor of a City of Port Orchard contract, has stayed fairly close to its construction schedule timeline, a 17-day work stoppage resulting from a strike by members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 302, which represents the paving subcontractor, ultimately delayed the completion date until later this summer.

The union and the Associated General Contractors of Washington, representing area contractors, agreed to a new three-year contract on Sept. 6, 2018. Since then, work on the project has been impacted only intermittently because of minor weather disruptions.