WESTFIELD – City Engineer Mark Cressotti reported to the Board of Public Works Tuesday night that the next phase of the Columbia Greenway Rail Trial construction is being broken into “elements” because of the need to award the structure work as early as possible to meet the June 30 grant deadline.
The city has received a $2 million grant from the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs for the next phase of Columbia Greenway construction which includes installation of a new bridge and proposed construction of a 25-foot-long underpass, connecting two neighborhoods to be installed under the raised rail of the former New Haven to Northampton Railroad.
“There will be a couple of pieces to the Greenway construction and a couple of contracts associated with that. The work has to be done by June,” Cressotti said.
The structural elements are the bridge over East Silver Street and the underpass linking the Hedges Avenue/St. Dennis Street neighborhood with the Taylor Avenue/Ashley Street neighborhood.
“We’re pushing that piece e out right now,” Cressotti said. “We’re getting into the holiday season and if we wait we won’t get the bids back until late January. We can’t wait that long because of the lead time to get the steel for the bridge.”
Cressotti said the underpass will be a precast box culvert delivered in sections. The structures contractor will remove a section of the raised rail bed, install the culvert sections, then backfill and compact the rail bed so it does not settle over time.
“We’ll bid out the rail trail work separately,” Cressotti said. “Some bridge contractors also do road work and some road contractors also do bridges, so we’ll have to wait and see what types of bids come in from contractors.”
In other business, Cressotti informed the BPW members that the North Elm and Notre Dame streets intersection reconfiguration work will be advertised in January.
“Right now we’re putting the rights of ways we’ll need together,” Cressotti said.
The truck exclusion for the lower section of Notre Dame Street and adjoining neighborhoods has been given a “favorable recommendation by (state Department of Transportation) District 2 in Northampton and has been sent to Boston for further DOT review.”
“Plans for the Western Avenue project have been submitted to DOT District 2 and we’re waiting for a response,” Cressotti said.
“The Feeding Hills Section of Route 187 is currently underway and the next element of that project will be Little River Road,” Cressotti said. “That phase is 100 percent designed, but the DOT wants another public hearing because of the changes proposed at the Shaker Road intersection. Public hearings were held, but it’s been so long they want residents to have another opportunity to review the plans.”
Cressotti told the BPW that the Water Resource Department plans to replace a section of water main on the Shaker Road Bridge between Canal Drive and Glenwood Drive. The main line suspended from the bridge failed and was shut off at either end of the bridge.
Cressotti said the failed section of water line was part of a looped system, so residents were able to receive water on either side of the failed line. The project will restore the loop which prevents pressure fluctuations and improve water quality because of the constant circulation.
