WESTFIELD – The Board of Public Works voted Tuesday night to award the Arch Road improvement project to JL Raymaakers of 1100 East Mountain Road, Westfield, selecting the lowest bidder at the recommendation of the Engineering Department.
Raymaakers submitted a bid of $684,745 for the project. The project involves replacing drainage lines and realigning the road to reduce the present curve and straighten out the heavily traveled roadway.
Borges Construction of Ludlow submitted the second lowest bid at $686,765, while the third lowest bid was from A. Martin Construction Company, Inc., also of Ludlow at $687,733.
This was the third time the Arch Road work was released for bids because of issues with bid specifications. The initial bid drew 13 responses, while 16 firms submitted bids in the second round. City Engineer Mark Cressotti said that the cost of the project dropped with every bid cycle.
“We’ve been saving money every time,” Cressotti said, adding that he anticipates work will begin shortly on the improvement project
The focus of the project is to correct the drainage problem created when the state and city revamped the Massachusetts Turnpike access, creating the jug handle system that motorists, northbound on North Elm Street (Clay Hill), now use to enter the turnpike.
That project was designed with a large drainage pipe collecting stormwater from that area and dropping it into the existing Arch Road drainage system which terminates at Arm Brook just beyond the intersection of Arch and Lockhouse roads.
The problem with that drainage connection was soon apparent. Property and business owners observed stormwater, when collected in the jug handle during heavy downpours, began shooting up from the storm drain manholes, sometimes gushing a couple of feet high.
City officials and engineers investigated and discovered that the jug handle drainage was about twice the circumference of the Arch Road drainage line which could not accept the volume of stormwater being delivered by the jug handle line.
Cressotti said the Arch Road drain line will be replaced with a new line the same size as the jug handle drainage system to alleviate the discharge through the manhole drains intended to collect water from Arch Road.
“It’s an expensive project, but not that complex,” Cressotti said.
