A $3.1 million infrastructure project is back on track after Selectmen and local legislators pressured the state agency responsible for the delay.

Construction was scheduled to start in September to upgrade roads, sewers and drainage pipes. Those changes are the first phase of a proposed $18.4 million, 10-year plan to improve Marion's infrastructure.

The agency, MassWorks Infrastructure, had awarded the town a $1 million grant for the project’s first phase, which targets Ryder Lane, South Street and Spring Street.

Town Administrator Paul Dawson said at the Selectmen's Tuesday meeting that MassWorks Infrastructure approved the town’s construction timetable and a project contractor had been secured. However, MassWorks hadn’t processed the town’s grant application.

To speed the approval, Dawson said State Rep. Bill Strauss and Massachusetts Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo contacted MassWorks to help Marion.

Last Thursday, MassWorks called Dawson tell him the grant paperwork will be completed.

The state’s roadblock is gone, but Dawson said the delay means the town will have to ask contractors to submit bids for the project again.

Rhode Island-based contractor John Rocchio Corporation had submitted the low bid. After months of delay, the contractor declined to keep signing extension contracts.

While glad to be back on track, Dawson said the episode was frustrating because the town was prepared all along.

“Our work was done months and months ago. Our whole timetable was approved by MassWorks Infrastructure and we followed it to a ‘t’,” Dawson said.