Last modified: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 3:14 AM EDT Downtown work: A big improvement or a big pain? BY MATT ROCHELEAU FOR THE SUN CHRONICLE ATTLEBORO - The city's streetscape project, including the construction of new sidewalks, curbs and the installation of historical light fixtures, has turned downtown upside down - and it's generating lots of opinions. "I think it looks great. What they've done with the common area is phenomenal," Bob Bamberg, owner of Attleboro's Old Barn, said on one of his daily walks through downtown. The streetscape improvements will cost about $1 million - mainly in state and federal funds - and stretch from the common to city hall on Park Street and the Bronson Building at the intersection of North and South Main streets. "It's money well spent," Bamberg said, adding that when the project was first conceived, funding for priorities like police, fire and schools was not as tight as it is now. At the Super Petroleum station on Pleasant Street, which overlooks much of the work, station worker Roger Winsor said, "anything to improve the city's look is good." And while the construction has caused some traffic headaches, Winsor said "it's nothing to complain about. It's understandable." Bamberg had no complaints about traffic either. "Traffic is traffic," he said. "It has always been tough navigating through downtown Attleboro." Others disagreed. "I don't think it's worth it," motorist Lisa Fulton of Attleboro while getting gas. She said the city should use the taxpayers' money on more serious matters. "It's just ridiculous," she said. Fulton said she has been affected firsthand, since the public works department has been too invested in the streetscape and similar projects to help her with an easement problem near her home. Mary Perry of Norfolk has been commuting to her job at Sturdy Memorial Hospital for the past 16 years, and said it has taken her longer to get to work and she has left home a few minutes earlier since construction began. "It's a pain in the (butt)," pedestrian Amanda Simoneau of Attleboro said while pushing her son in a stroller down the sidewalk. Simoneau said she frequently walks downtown, and trying to maneuver around construction, closed sidewalks and crossing busy streets with a stroller can be difficult. However, Simoneau, said she was looking past present inconveniences, and would take a wait-and-see approach.