WESTPORT — All of the funding is now in place to design and build sidewalks and bicycle lanes in Central Village.

Now, the Central Village Public Improvements Committee is working on a request-for-proposals to design the project that will go out by the end of the month. The committee, however, already has a pretty good idea of what Main Road will look like.

On Main Road, from Village Way, across from Westport Apothecary, to the police station, vehicle lanes will shrink in width to make room for bicycle lanes and sidewalks (sidewalks will be built up to Jennings Plaza on the west side).

Installing sidewalks was the first idea when this group started looking into improvements for pedestrians back in 2005. But when they decided the village also needed smaller vehicle lanes to slow traffic, crosswalks and 4-foot shoulders for bicyclists, they realized this was more than a sidewalks project.

“We used to be the Central Village Sidewalks Committee,” Elaine Ostroff, a member, said. “But then we realized our responsibility was a little broader ... it was more than just sidewalks. It was traffic-calming and safety issues.”

Ms. Ostroff said it is difficult for older residents to walk safely in the village. More than 7,000 vehicles pass through the village each day, according to a recent traffic study. And in the village, there are more than 50 businesses, with between 300 to 400 employees of the local businesses and town government who work in the village.

“It’s really scary to walk on Main Road in Central Village,” said Ms. Ostroff, who lives in the village and crosses the road to get her mail.

There is a very small grassy shoulder that some people use to walk from business to business, and no crosswalks.

A preliminary design done by PARE Corp. gave the committee an idea of how the road could be divided up and where to put crosswalks. Vehicle lanes will be re-striped to 11-foot lanes; then 4-foot shoulders; and roughly 5-foot sidewalks. One crosswalk would go in just south of Village Way, the entrance to an elderly-housing complex, joining to Westport Apothecary. Another crosswalk, this one with wheelchair ramps, would connect a business complex to Lees Market.

Ms. Ostroff said the committee had considered permeable materials, like gravel or a path, for the sidewalks but had concluded that it should be made of concrete.

More elements, like lighting — what type and how much — and signs warning drivers that they’re entering a pedestrian zone still need to be worked out. Ms. Ostroff said the committee is looking into solar lights, which she said initially might be expensive, but would have the benefit of not costing the town for electricity.

As the committee enters the design process, they’ll hold a design charette to find out what residents want to see in this project. Ms. Ostroff said in past discussions residents have said they’re concerned about the taking of property for this project, whether stone walls will be destroyed (they won’t), street lighting, and if it will change the character of the village.

“We’re absolutely not taking anybody’s property,” said Ms. Ostroff. A study of Westport’s properties showed that the town has a 47-foot right-of-way for Main Road, Ms. Ostroff said, and the project will need only 40 or 41 feet of that. While working on the project, some of the grading to make sidewalks “might mess up a business’s lawn,” she said, but anything like that will be cleaned up and landscaped.

“The look of the project is very important to have it compatible with the town,” she said. “We’ve got examples of village centers where these sidewalks look good. It is going to look different, but I feel like it will look more welcoming.”

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation recently granted $394,000 through the Transportation Enhancements Program Statewide Steering Committee to fund all of the construction costs (the award was based on an estimate by PARE Corp.). Voters at the Special Town Meeting on Oct. 27 gave the project its final piece — $23,000 from the Community Preservation Committee’s budget to pay for the design.

“There was a pretty substantial margin (of an approving vote) so we were pretty pleased,” Ms. Ostroff said after the meeting. “A lot of people (co-chairs, John Faria and Ann Squire; Joe Boucher, Dave Wallace, and herself) have been working on this for a long time.”