Factory Street was once the bustling hub of downtown Watertown. Now, city council says the roadway is in need of major repairs.

"Factory Street is in a little bit of rough shape.  We've paved over it in recent years.  This is a highly traveled avenue," says Watertown Mayor Jeff Graham.

Since April of 2010, city council has been planning the Factory Street Reconstruction Project. Paving the way for -- well -- paving. 

"It would be a top to bottom reconstruction of the utilities as well as the paving, the sidewalks all of that.  Much the same as was done on State Street and Coffeen Street before that," adds Graham.

80% of the project should be covered by federal aid, The remaining 20% will be split up between state aid and city dollars.

Redoing Factory Street could put the final touch on rebuilding downtown's infrastructure.  But some wonder what the effect would be on businesses during construction.

Replacing utilities under the street will divert traffic during the construction and make it hard for consumers to get to Factory Street businesses.

"The alternative is to let the street continue, or any street continue to fall into complete disrepair and have the water and sewer underneath the street fall into disrepair. That's not an option," says City Councilman Jeff Smith.

"I just hope that if this does take place, that they do it in a manner so that people still do have access to us," says Impossible Dream Manager Joicee Hale.

According to Councilman Smith, if everything goes as planned, and there are no potholes along the way, construction could begin as soon as 2012.