Drivers may notice a smoother commute around some parts of the city as work crews make repairs and repave roadways.

Improvements will be made to about 17 roads in the city before the end of the year, according to city officials.

The last of the road improvement projects are expected wrap up within the next three weeks, according to Jim Percival, city manager.

Repaving on Main Street and the bikeway crossing between Orange and Church streets, are one of the more recent projects completed. Traffic slowed and merged to one lane for about three days before the project was completed last week.

“Obviously we can’t get to every street every year, but we try to evaluate the pavement index and go from there,” Percival said.

The city will spend about $700,000 in general capital improvement funds on repaving roads and street maintenance this year, according to Percival.

The money was generated from a 2010 income tax levy. The city made a commitment to residents to spend at least $500,000 annually on road improvements if the levy passed, according to Percival.

“It’s significant but we’ve got an estimate that $29 to $30 million would be needed in improvements the streets,” he said.

The city is expected to spend less on road repaving projects this year compared to last year when it spent $850,000. In 2011, the city used grant funds to help finance the projects. This year, only local dollars will be used, according to Percival.

There are a number of factors that are considered when compiling the list of streets that will be repaved such as utility replacement, proximity to other streets that need to be repaved and traffic, according to Cris Berger, city engineer.

“Some are really bad and others were picked because of their location,” Berger said.