WESTFIELD – The Board of Public Works approved a $1.2 million contract to construct an esplanade at the juncture of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail and the Westfield River Levee Walk Trail.
The board voted to award the contract to ET&L Corporation of Stow, the contractor now extending the Columbia Greenway from East Silver Street to the area of Main Street. The firm submitted the low bid for the work.
The esplanade contract will require the company to construct a multi-use trail between Elm and Sackett streets and will include construction of the Esplanade, a plaza area near the recently constructed overlook on the bank of the Westfield River. The contract also calls for installation of retaining walls to support the levee bank on which the trail will be constructed.
City Engineer Mark Cressotti said that construction is anticipated to begin in August on that phase of the Columbia Greenway.
The work currently being done will bring the rail trail from the Southwick line to Main Street. The rail trail now extends about 50 miles down into Connecticut. Southampton is also constructing a section of the rail trail to connect with the trail recently completed in Easthampton, which connects to existing trails in Northampton.
Cressotti said the state Department of Transportation is preparing to advertise construction bids for the north section of the Columbia Greenway which includes rehabilitation of the former Pioneer Valley Railroad Bridge over the Westfield River. That work is anticipated to be awarded for the 2016 construction season and will connect the Columbia Greenway to the Women’s Temperance Park on the north bank of the river.
The central phase, from Main Street to the railroad bridge is scheduled for the 2017 construction season and is expected to cost an estimated $7 million because it involved replacement of bridges over Main Street, Thomas Street, Chapel Street and Orange Street.
The railroad bridge over Elm Street will not be replaced because the state Historical Commission has determined that it is an architecturally significant structure. It will be raised to increase clearance to 14 feet, 6 inches. The cost of rehabilitating and raising that structure is projects at $1.4 million.
The esplanade project will provide access to the Columbia Greenway from Elm Street and the Orange Street neighborhood. Local neighborhood access, such as the ramp from the trail down to East Silver Street, is a key design element of the greenway project. Access points will be established as the project moves forward.
The Westfield River Levee Walk project will extend the city’s multi-use trail system east and west of the Columbia Greenway. The trail will be constructed on top of the existing Westfield River Levee system which stretches from Williams Riding Way off Meadow Street to the area of Beckwith Avenue.
