KILLDEER - Cowboys aren't exactly galloping up and down Killdeer's Central Avenue this summer.

No siree, Bob.

Patience, pardner.

It won't be long until the steep slope will be a fine transportation thoroughbred.

There'll be new pavement, with decorative sidewalks, new curbs, gutters and storm sewer system and new street lighting.

For the moment, though, Killdeer is undergoing an experience akin to having its main show horse go lame. Ouch.

Central Avenue is the main street, cutting right through town like a zipper.

The $4 million reconstruction project started in June and the street is still all torn up. It looks like it will come in on schedule at the end of October.

It won't be long and all will be healed, better than before when rain and snow runoff cascaded into lots and businesses at the bottom of the hill.

It'll be good-looking, too.

The town got to pick its own sidewalk design and will pay the difference between regular and something special.

It came up with a decorative imprint of colored concrete that looks like wooden boardwalk, adding to Killdeer's western flair.

People in town don't complain much, but October can come any time now.

It's been a spell.

Lolly Suter figures she's lucky to live on the same side of Central where she does most of her errands.

"We're holding up very good. It'll be so nice when it's done," she said, pausing on her trek to a business further up.

Marshall Bergerud, who's got a quiet tax preparation and law business on a corner lot, says pretty much the same thing.

"It's been real disruptive, but it'll look real nice when it's done," he said.

The side he's on is mainly done. The sidewalk is in, the electric stands await streetlights and the underground storm sewer and curb and gutter are a done deal.

Tuesday, crews were pouring hot asphalt down Bergerud's side of the street on one of the hottest days in a long time.

Meantime traffic is on the other side of the street, one lane turned into two lanes, pylons galore and confusing turnoffs.

There's no Central Avenue parking, so folks are using side streets, alleys and back parking lots to get by.

After Labor Day, the other half of the old street will be milled down and the topside work that got done on the west side will commence on the east.

Patience, patience.

Department of Transportation design engineer Bill Gathman said what's left will go faster than what's been done, mainly because building a storm sewer took so much time.

"We should get her done on schedule," he said.

It's not usual for state and federal dollars to be spent on in town, but it happens when Central Avenue, the town's main drag, is also Highway 22.

The highway leads to the former Lost Bridge, Little Missouri State Park and eventually New Town.

The road gets local and tourist traffic and the construction has had an impact, some good, some not so good.

Down at the Buckskin Bar and Grill, owner Eric Kehr said he's never had a better year.

Construction workers stop in for cold refreshments and supper. Plus, he hasn't noticed a drop in out-of-town trade despite the mess out front.

The hot asphalt across the street was a nice sign of things to come.

"Now we're at the point where we can see what it's going to look like. It really highlights Central Avenue," he said.

He said the project's been the focus of speculation and some grousing around town.

He figures Killdeer is lucky to have such an improvement at state and federal expense, not to mention the eventual curb appeal.

"It's nice. Nothing ventured, nothing gained," he said.

Up the street, Anita Mjolhus of Anita's Collectibles said she never knew how much she depended on tourist traffic until this summer.

"I knew it would pinch business, but I had no idea it would be this bad," she said.

Mjolhus is vice president of the town's chamber and said people generally are glad the construction chaos is this year, not next, when Lewis and Clark bicentennial traffic is expected to pick up.

"We kind of decided to bite the bullet because this is progress," she said. "It can only get better."

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511 or lauren@westriv.com.)