People who want to park downtown will have to compete for spaces for several more weeks while work continues on the parking garage at the Dulles State Office Building and the city proceeds with the $1.5 million reconstruction of nearby Clinton Street.

While the projects are on schedule and under budget, motorists looking for parking in that area will have to put up with more inconvenience before all the work is finished.

Completion of the $1 million state office building’s parking garage restoration is slated for February, while the Clinton Street project is expected to be finished in the spring.

The combination of both projects was expected to cause major parking woes for about 150 state office building employees who would be looking for spots to park for months. There were also fears the projects would cause major headaches for people going to the Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce Farm and Craft Market, but that apparently never happened.

“There were no more or no fewer complaints about parking than in past years,” said Michelle A. Farrell, the chamber’s director of events.

The Watertown farmers market wraps up for the season on Oct. 3, but the chamber will hold a special event today to celebrate the Fireball Run. The farmers market will also be held on its regular Wednesday schedule, she said.

The parking garage project sent about 150 state office workers looking for parking elsewhere since it began in this spring. But Heather Groll, a spokeswoman for the state Office of General Services in Albany, said it has also not caused major problems for them. State employees pay about $10 a month to park in the garage.

Nonetheless, general contractor Bette and Cring, Watertown, hopes to complete the $977,000 work earlier than the scheduled completion in February because it had a larger crew working at the site on deck repairs a few months ago, she said.

The new surface for the deck should be completed in November. The project also includes resurfacing driveways and the garage’s levels, revamping entrances and exits, installing new doors and stairs and updating lighting and security camera equipment.

The other two contractors involved in the project are 34 & Co., Watertown, doing electrical, for $118,000 and Burns Brothers Contractors, Potsdam, doing plumbing, for $20,000.

So far, the weather has cooperated on the Clinton Street project, said City Engineer Kurt W. Hauk. About 40 percent of the Clinton Street reconstruction has been completed, he said. If all goes well, the road excavation and underground work, such as sanitary sewers, will be done during the fall.

If that happens, base paving will then be completed to ease winter driving conditions. Work crews will then have to return in the spring to do the top paving, sidewalks and finishing work, he said.

The Clinton Street project began in early July. The project’s general contractor is North Country Contractors, Calcium.

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