The city completed the first segment of the trail this past spring, extending it from the Southwick line to just short of Little River. (Photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – City Engineer Mark Cressotti presented details of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trail expansion to members of the Board of Public Works Tuesday night.
Cressotti had been prepared to present environmental details of the trail expansion to the Conservation Commission as part of the notice of intent public hearing, but that hearing was postponed because of a lack of a quorum.
Cressotti said that the rail trail, which currently terminates 500 feet south of Little River, will be extended to near East Silver Street next spring through a $2 million state grant. That construction work will extend the trail from the area of Coleman Avenue to the Southwick rail trail and the trail system extending more than 30 miles down into Connecticut.
The city completed the first segment of the trail in the city this past spring, extending the trail from the Southwick line to just short of Little River. The next construction effort will bring the trail over Tin Bridge and South Meadow Street to the Colman Avenue area.
Cressotti said the project is under a restrictive timeline to secure the state grant funding and needs to be completed within the current fiscal year, similar to the rail trail work completed last spring in the 2011 fiscal year budget cycle.
“This time the trail is going to East Silver Street where we’ll be doing a connection,” Cressotti said. “There are several options for that connection that we are considering. I’m planning to conduct a public informational meeting on Oct. 24 for abutters and other interested parties to get additional input.”
“This is a time sensitive project that needs to be completed by June 30 (the last day of the current fiscal year),” Cressotti said. “The plan is to submit the design to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation by Thanksgiving and advertise it for comment, then incorporate those comments into the design and have the project be ready to be awarded by the beginning of the (2013) year.”
Cressotti said that lead time is required because the contract will have to order steel to re-deck Tin Bridge and to replace the entire span over South Meadow Road.
“That steel is not on a shelf in inventory someplace, it’s going to have to be fabricated, which takes time,” Cressotti said.
Tin Bridge is 15 feet wide, sufficient to accommodate the 10-foot-wide rail trail and still provide space for construction of scenic observation areas along the span over Little River. The design of that bridge deck is still fluid as the final design is formulated by the architect, Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. (VHB).
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik said this morning that he is developing a cost estimate to remove the East Silver Street railroad bridge, at the request of the Westfield Police Department, because of the frequent accidents caused by commercial trucks colliding with the steel structure.
“The Police Department request is doable,” Knapik said. “To get that bridge, as well as the bridges over Chapel and Thomas streets, down is not overly complex and will open those streets to truck traffic.”
