City Engineer Mark Cressotti addresses the MassDOT public meeting on the Central Downtown section of the Rail Trail. (Photo by Amy Porter)
WESTFIELD – More than two dozen residents spilled out of Room 315 at City Hall on Tuesday for a MassDOT public info session on the Central Downtown section of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail, the final leg to be completed for the project which has taken more than 20 years from conception to reality.
“This is a long time in coming, twenty years, and the final piece,” said City Engineer Mark Cressotti, adding, “It’s great that within a short time frame it will be completed.”
MassDOT Project Manager Muazzez “M.J.” Reardon said initial meetings began in June of 2006 at 25% design. She said the project is now at 75% design, with the design scheduled to be finalized in the spring of 2019, and construction to begin in the summer and take 24 months at a cost of $6.6 million.
Christine Champeau of VHB (Vanesse Hangen Brustlin Inc.) said that her company is completing the design, and the MassDOT will have oversight on the project which is being largely funded by the Federal Highway Administration.
Champeau showed the plans on screen for the Central Downtown section, which she said is 3500 linear feet of path, and is the last section of a 9.3 mile trail beginning at the CT border in Southwick where it connects to the Farmington/Heritage Trail.
The Central Section involves five railroad bridges. She said the bridges at Thomas, Chapel and Orange will be replaced, with 14’6” clearance, higher than they are now. The path itself will be 12 feet wide, and will be lit and landscaped with trees and shrubs, benches and bike racks. The Elm St. bridge, which will be retained, is 21 feet wide, and will have space for curved granite benches and bike racks.
The path will connect to the recently completed Westfield River Bridge and on to the Women’s Temperance Park and the Esplanade.
Champeau said there will be some road closures and detours during the bridge construction, but the bridges will be pre-fabricated, so they won’t take long to install. Also with the access pathways to the trail on Thomas and Elm at Franklin, there will be lane shifts for a short period of time.
Karen Axtell of MassDOT said the city accepted the responsibility of obtaining all of the easements for the construction. She said there are four permanent easements and seven temporary easements, and that property owners will be contacted by city officials.
Cressotti said later that the city will start its right of way process in November with half a dozen landowners, mostly businesses, including Westfield Bank, Landsdowne Place at the Thomas St. access point, and the Mobil Station at the Elm and Franklin St. access point, which he said is the most impacted.
Rail Trail supporters were spilling out of Room 315 at the MassDOT public meeting. (Photo by Amy Porter)
At the end of the meeting, M.J. Reardon asked for anyone with questions or comments to stand up and spell their name for the official taped transcript.
“We’re very excited to reach this point, and very grateful to be a part of the design,” said Joe Giffune of the Friends of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail.
Bruce Donald introduced himself as the CT East Coast Greenway Tri-State Coordinator. He said he had been doing this work for 20 years, and called the CGRT “outstanding.” He said the CT trail is almost completed, with the last gap in Plainville having just received $16 million to complete their section by 2023. “At that point, the entire trail in CT will be complete,” Donald said, adding, “This is going to be quite an amazing corridor.”
Resident Laura Marx said they had a running joke in their family that the trail would be finished when her son gets his driver’s license. “He’s ten,” she said.
Marx also asked how much of the trail was funded by the federal government and how much by the state. “80% federal, 20% state,” said Reardon. She then asked if they could construct the trail so that part of it could be used if the federal funding was held up. However, Champeau said the funds are secured for the Central Downtown section.
Thomas Woodson of the Westfield Redevelopment Authority said the WRA is redeveloping an empty lot just down from Thomas St. He said he wants to make sure that access to the trail is not dropped, as it is very important for economic development.
“I cannot tell you how excited I am,” said Greater Westfield Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Kate Phelon, acknowledging the economic impact the trail is having in CT as described by Donald. Phelon said she hopes businesses embrace the trail with bike racks and in other ways.
Phelon also asked if businesses were consulted regarding the access points. Cressotti said it was more about where the trail could be accessed, in terms of grading, etc. He said the Esplanade provides access to the river.
“1996 sticks with me. In 1996, it was just an idea by a group of folks. Here we are in 2018; we can actually see the reality of it,” said Daniel Call of the FOCGRT. Call also said they could have looked at the challenge of the five bridges downtown and brought the trail down to grade, and expressed gratitude that they retained the bridges.
Don Podolski of New Horizon Bikes said he was one of the members of the first advisory committee in the 1990’s, and that he rides the trail to work every day. Podolski said he hopes the MassDOT will advise the city on how to safely integrate the bikes coming off the trail at the access points.
“It’s going to have a definite positive impact on the downtown,” said City Advancement Officer Joe Mitchell.
Ward 2 City Councilor Ralph J. Figy noted that all of the construction will be in Ward 2, and he said it would be received most warmly.
“It’s overdue. it’s going to be a benefit to all of the residents of Ward 2; clean up areas that are blighted, and will make the area safe,” Figy added after the meeting.
