MARK CRESSOTTI
WESTFIELD – The City is preparing to award the construction contract for improvements at the intersection of the North Elm and Notre Dame streets, as soon as land needed to widen those street and install sidewalks is secured.
City Engineer Mark Cressotti said this morning that the construction bids have been opened, but that work cannot proceed until the City Council has acted to secure permanent and temporary easements.
“I can’t have a contractor working on land that the city doesn’t own or control,” Cressotti said of the $4 million intersection improvement project. “We are waiting to award the contract to complete that process of taking land by eminent domain.”
“We have the survey of land we need for the project and the Law Department is preparing the orders of taking that will go to the City Council in May,” Cressotti said. “The City Council takes two readings for land takings.”
Cressotti said the road, associated drainage and sidewalk improvements will require takings along both Notre Dame and North Elm Street.
The $4 million North Elm Street and Notre Dame Street improvement projects is being funded through a $10 million bond already approved by the City Council for improvements to the North Elm Street and Southampton Road corridor. That work includes installation of new drainage, deep-sump basins to capture sediment, reconstruction of the road bed, and widening of the pavement to accommodate dedicated turning lanes.
New sidewalks will be constructed on the west side of North Elm Street and both the upper and lower sections of Notre Dame Street. Crosswalks are also included in the project, one on upper Notre Dame Street and two on North Elm Street.
The project also includes creation of a parking area to replace existing parking at Mestek Inc., which is being taken to widen the road for the new turning lanes.
The project will increase the area of pavement by more than 23,000 square-feet, roughly half an acre and that additional area of impervious surface will result in greater runoff of storm water. New stormwater drainage is being installed to support the wider road and the existing drainage structures, which will be in the middle of the wider road, will be removed.
