MARK CRESSOTTI
WESTFIELD – The Board of Public Works voted Tuesday night to approve $3.3 million to replace sewers in the $5.9 million Gas Light District Improvement Project slated to begin in June. City Engineer Mark Cressotti requested the board to authorize the use of the city’s Inflow & Infiltration (I&I) account to replace the sewers, some of the oldest in the city, and to perform associated work to tie buildings and homes into the new sewer system. The Gas Light District (the neighborhood between Elm and Washington streets and between Court and Franklin streets) infrastructure is being upgraded to improve the quality of life for residents within the district and to position the city for economic development downtown. Cressotti said the present infrastructure is inadequate to support economic development and in many cases is failing, which has a directed impact on residents in the district because of interruption of water and sewer services. “What is unusual is that we’re replacing the sewer lines. The city doesn’t typically do that, but in this instance we have to take out and replace those lines because there is significant inflow and infiltration of ground water,” Cressotti said. “There is also an issue of asbestos pipes sitting in high ground water.” The BPW voted to fund the contract awarded to Gagliarducci Construction Inc. of Springfield to replace water and sewer lines, as well as to bury overhead utilities and repave streets and off-street parking lots in the neighborhood designated as the Gas Light District. The BPW also voted to approve a change order in the amount of $11,400 for the design of the North Elm Street and Notre Dame Street intersection reconstruction project which will add dedicated turning lanes both north and south on North Elm Street. Cressotti said the change order to the design effort, being performed by Tighe & Bond, is the result of citizen suggestions and concerns raised last month at an informational hearing. Residents requested that a truck exclusion be established for lower Notre Dame Street, a process that requires state Department of Transportation review and approval. Cressotti said the DOT will need specific data to consider the truck exclusion request from the city. Trucks will be directed down North Elm Street to the turnabout just south of Depot Square and from there to Union Street. Tighe & Bond will also submit data for establishing that as a designated truck route to the DOT.
