Construction barriers af the balustrades at Half Mile Falls Park
WESTFIELD–The city has officially put out to bid a project to replace the balustrades at three Westfield parks.
The bids will be to replace the balustrades at the Women’s Temperance, Half Mile and Kane-Wojtkiewicz parks, located in the Great River Bridge portion of the city. The balustrades were considered unsafe by the third-party engineering firm Habeeb and Associates, so the city will seek to replace them. Bids are due in by Feb. 23, and the project was estimated to cost $300,000, with a majority of the cost for the project being covered by money that was used for another project.
“The financing for the project is through the existing parks bond known as the ‘Bullens Field Restoration Project’,” Sullivan said.
The new balustrades being put in that are currently around the Westfield River
The Bullens Field Restoration Project helped bring the Babe Ruth World Series to Westfield, and also helped to improve and modernize several portions of Bullens Field.
The money left over from the Bullens project makes up about $275,000, which will go toward the balustrade repairs and should be able to at least cover its cost until the next fiscal year, if not altogether, Sullivan said. If the city does need to cover additional costs prior to the next fiscal year, then they may have to draw from the city’s free cash account. This account has money that has not been declared yet for city projects, and is often used to fund projects and concerns not addressed in the city’s budget.
The balustrades were originally installed during the Great River Bridge Project that occurred in 2012. Although OKed at the time, Habeeb and Associates, who was brought in by the city last year to assess the balustrades’ safety, found that they should be replaced to improve protection.
The new balustrades, in addition to being considered safer will also coincide with the balustrades that surround the rest of the area.
According to Sullivan, the project is being paid for by the city in order to expedite the process of replacing the balustrades and the city will recoup the expenditure from the state.
“I just want to get it fixed instead of waiting for a long legal process,” he said. “I want to fix the problem and the city can move forward.”
In a December 9 Westfield News article, Sullivan also noted that the city will attempt to recoup the money lost in this project from the state and other responsible parties. He reiterated that the city will seek to recoup the money again recently. The project was originally commissioned by the state, including the balustrades.
Once construction begins on the project, Sullivan doesn’t expect there to be any delays to traffic.
