WESTFIELD – The Board of Public Works approved an additional $275,700 for the Western Avenue Roadway Improvement Project design effort last night, at the request of City Engineer Mark Cressotti.
Cressotti said this morning that the change order to award that additional funding to Milone & MacBroom of Springfield, is to complete the design of the 2.7 mile roadway and for additional engineering work to address concerns raised by residents at a November 14 public meeting at Highland Elementary School.
Cressotti said that state-mandated financing regulations, now being enforced, prohibit communities from selling bonds in excess of projected annual expenditures for engineering and design services.
“These financial guidelines have been on the books for several years, but are now being pushed,” Cressotti said. “They prohibit you from selling more than you expect to spend that year. Initially, I could only award part of the funding for a project. I asked the Board (of Public Works) to expend the rest of the contract, which should be completed this year.”
The plans presented at the November meeting are preliminary and comments offered by residents may be included into the 25 percent design plan submitted to the state Department of Transportation for review as the project design proceeds. Western Avenue is classified as an Urban Minor Arterial.
The Western Avenue Project was initiated 10 years ago as a simple repaving effort, but deterioration of road pavement includes subsurface base, requiring the entire reconstruction of the roadway, with upgrades to subsurface utilities including sewers, water lines, storm drainage systems, and gas lines. Much of the infrastructure improvements have been completed, with the remaining work to be done before, or in conjunction with, road reconstruction.
The reconstruction project begins at the intersection of Court, Mill and High streets and extends to the intersection of Western Avenue and Bates Road, with extensive reconfiguration of intersections along that 2.7 mile span of roadway. Those reconfigurations include widening the pavement to accommodate the installation of dedicated turning lanes, primarily left-turn lanes.
Residents speaking at the public hearing raised concerns about pedestrian and bicycle traffic in that corridor, asking for the installation of additional signal-controlled crosswalks and for a dedicated bicycle lane. The original design includes a bicycle lane on the edge of the pavement, but without a physical barrier preventing motor vehicle traffic from encroaching into the lane.
“A popular desire that came out of the public meeting is for bicycle traffic,” Cressotti said. “Bicyclists don’t feel safe on the road.”
The additional engineering funding will pay for the design of a multi-use trail off the roadway, which combines pedestrian and bicycle traffic.
“It will remove bicycle traffic from the roadway between Highland School and the end of the (Westfield State University) property at Juniper Park School,” Cressotti said. “The concept is to expand the sidewalk to eight feet or more along one side of the road.”
The multi-use trail will be constructed on the south side of Western Avenue from Highland School and the tennis courts at Stanley Park to accommodate bicycle traffic to the park, then cross Western Avenue to the north side of the roadway for the remaining section of trail.
“City ordinance prohibits bicycle traffic on sidewalks, so we’re designating this as a multi-use trail, which does not fall under that ordinance,” Cressotti said. “We’re also planning to construct a multi-use trail along Lloyds Hill Road.”
Cressotti said that that section of the trail will eventually connect to the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail as the bicycle trail network in the city is expanded.
“The Columbia Greenway will be extended to Depot Square and the city has plans to upgrade the Riverwalk to a multi-use trail along the levee, that will extend the trail to Congress Street on the west end,” he said. “There will be short segment from Lloyds Hill Road to connect into the Riverwalk.”
