MARK CRESSOTTI
WESTFIELD – City Engineer Mark Cressotti urged the Conservation Commission last night to issue an Order of Condition for the Route 187 reconstruction and improvement project at the board’s next Aug. 13, 2013 meeting to allow the $4.5 million project to be advertised and awarded this fall.
The improvements to Feeding Hills Road include installation of several drainage systems, working independently as dictated by terrain features, collecting stormwater and routing it to existing rills.
The other improvements include widening the roadway, which means that the new drainage systems will have a larger footprint and environmental impact.
The city filed a notice of intent for the project, which starts on Feeding Hills Road about 1,000 feet north of Old Feeding Hills Road, and the Agawam line, a length of about three quarters of a mile.
Daniel McCormack of Alfred Benesch and Company (Benesch) said the Route 187 project has been divided into three phases. Each phase is being presented separately for permit application and review.
Benesch was retained by the city to design the road reconstruction project, while the actual construction effort will be funded through state and federal transportation improvement programs (TIP).
McCormack and Mary Trudeau, an environmental scientist, presented details of proposed drainage systems and three culverts replacing inadequate existing structures, and the environmental impact of those improvements, at the commission’s June 25, 2013 meeting.
The City Council approved land takings needed for the Feeding Hills Road phase of the Route 187 reconstruction and improvement project, as well as the appropriation of $67,920 for the easements at its meeting earlier this month.
Cressotti had requested the council to act on 25 temporary and 10 permanent easements before it recessed for the summer, to facilitate the state’s contract bid process set to begin in August.
The easements are required for the stormwater drainage component of the roadway improvement and for environmental mitigation. The current road has little drainage, relying on sheet flow to carry stormwater off the pavement.
Last night the Conservation Commission discussed land that will be targeted for wetland replication. Much of that land is under the five-year temporary easement meaning that the city will eventually lose control of those areas currently used for livestock pasture.
The pasture owners have historically mowed the target area, a practice that concerns the commission members who felt that the land should have been placed under a permanent easement.
Cressotti said this morning that the board’s decision to further discuss the issue at its Aug. 13 session “is pushing the boundary” of the project timetable.
“Even after they make their decision and issue an order of conditions, the state needs time to incorporate those conditions into the project documents,” Cressotti said. “The target for advertising the project is the end of August, the drop dead date to do that is the end of the federal fiscal year.
The federal fiscal year begins on Oct. 1 and concludes on Sept. 30.
