Wet weather at the start of the project has forced the contractor repairing Washington Street south of the railroad bridge to seek an extension, the project’s engineer said Tuesday.

Saradhi Balla of IMS Engineers, the project engineers, said the company is expected to request the extension on behalf of American Field Service Corp., the project contractor, when the Board of Mayor and Aldermen meet Monday. He did not yet know how long the work might take.

“We are going over the (construction) reports right now, and we’ll reach a decision in time to make a request to the board next week,” he said.

The city’s contract with Madison-based American Field Service gave the contractor 45 days to complete the work. The company received the notice to proceed with the work on July 5, and work began July 9.

“The work is progressing,” Balla said, “but there was about one week of rain after the contractor began work that slowed the project.”

The Washington Street project involves replacing 10 paved panels on the street and repairing the roadbed and bracing a nearby retaining wall with about 30 anchors. The project’s cost is $203,536.

The Board on Feb. 28 declared an emergency and restricted traffic on Washington Street south of the bridge after a city crew repairing a water main leak near the retaining wall saw it move as heavy trucks went by. City workers also discovered a gap between the wall and the slope.

When the emergency was declared, the board ordered that vehicles weighing more than 26,001 pounds, which included tractor-trailer rigs, log trucks, school buses and large emergency vehicles, be detoured.

The board on April 26 transferred $265,000 from the city’s recreation department budget to the street department to pay for the repairs.