WESTFIELD – Work to improve Franklin Street and North Elm Street continues, but not as quickly as initially anticipated, so the work will extend into the 2016 construction season.
City Engineer Mark Cressotti said new granite curbing and concrete sidewalks are currently being installed along the south side of Franklin Street to the intersection of Charles Street and that effort should be completed this fall.
“The north side of the street was done earlier this summer and is complete except for a portion that wasn’t done at the intersection of Washington Street,” Cressotti said. “The road has to be widened and new traffic signals installed in that area, so it will affect the location of a sidewalk.”
Cressotti said there is also consideration of locating the two entrances to the commercial building on the north side of Franklin Street, now occupied by the Family Dollar store, to bring the access and exit egress into line with Washington Street.
“We’ve had fits and starts on the sidewalk installation because the money is tight. It is Chapter 90 funding,” Cressotti said. “Next season we’ll mill the pavement down to expose the existing curbs and then pave the roadway.”
Work is being done at night to reduce the traffic impact on North Elm Street where a new drainage system is being installed to alleviate chronic flooding in the intersection of North Elm and Notre Dame streets.
“That work is still moving forward, just not as much as was initially planned,” Cressotti said. “The contractor is getting the drainage in and will be paving that new area added to the west side of the roadway to accommodate the center turning lane, but the contractor will not get into the work on the intersection this year because the traffic signals and an electrical transformer have to be relocated.”
“Start of that project was delayed about a month because of the bond and right-of-way easement issues,” Cressotti said.
The $4.4 million traffic flow improvement project is being funded through a $10 million bond approved by the City Council several years ago, but the bond companies wanted the language modified to specifically include the intersection of North Elm Street and Notre Dame streets, which required a vote by the City Council.
The easements needed to allow the city to go onto private property and install infrastructure under those properties was more complicated than originally anticipated because of the complexity of the ownership of that land.
“We had anticipated an August start, but the contractor chose to start after Sept. 1, which is their prerogative,” Cressotti said.
