SALEM - A contractor doing off-site road work for the Lowe's construction project has agreed to not do anymore paving during the day after a day spent milling last month tied up traffic on one of the town's most traveled roads.

"I did not think it was going to turn into the nightmare it turned into," contractor Paul Pandelina told the selectmen last night.

About three weeks ago, paving crews spent a day doing the work on Route 28 near where a hardware store is being constructed. The construction closed a lane of traffic, causing a logjam along the heavily traveled road and preventing cars from turning into some parking lots. Selectmen Pat Hargreaves and Everett McBride said they were inundated with calls from people upset about the work.

Pandelina told the selectmen that paving was done during the day because there was concern about whether the night air would be too cold to allow the asphalt to properly settle. All further work that would close lanes will be done at night, and if the pavement doesn't last through the winter, they will do the work over again in the spring, he said.