TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI)- After years of delays, work on widening East Main in Tupelo could begin next week. Tuesday night, city council members voted five to zero, with two councilmen absent, to award a $3.4 million contract to Tupelo based Prairie Construction.

The road will expand to five lanes from Veterans Boulevard East to Willow Road and to three lanes from Willow East to Hillsdale Drive. Officials hope work will begin within days and last around a year.

The stretch of East Main between US HWY 45 and Veterans Boulevard will be widened with a state funded project creating a corridor from downtown to the Elvis Presley birthplace. Work there could start late this year.