WESTFIELD – The City Council voted Thursday night to accept a $2 million grant from the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs for construction of the next segment of the Columbia Greenway.
The vote, under immediate consideration, came after discussion of the next phase which will extend the rail trail from East Silver Street to Main Street.
Part of that discussion focused on a tunnel, connecting two neighborhoods, which will be installed under the raised rail of the former New Haven to Northampton railroad. At-large Councilor James R. Adams questioned the inclusion of that component.
City Engineer Mark Cressotti presented the details of the rail trail construction under the $2 million grant, which came to the city through the states Gateway Communities grant program, and said that there is a pedestrian path connecting the Hedges Avenue and Taylor Avenue neighborhoods.
Cressotti said that the path is a “desire line” of people crossing between the two neighborhoods and that the tunnel will eliminate people crossing across the rail trail.
Adams objected to the tunnel just for pedestrians, but withdrew that objection after Cressotti said that there will be an access ramp up to the rail trail on the Hedges Avenue side of the raised rail trail and that the tunnel will accommodate access to the trail by residents of the Taylor Avenue/Ashley street neighborhood.
At-large Councilor David A. Flaherty said he is concerned that the tunnel will become an attractive nuisance.
“I’m not a fan of the tunnel. People will be hanging out there,” Flaherty said.
Ward 5 Councilor Robert A. Paul Sr., who abstained on the vote to accept the grant, urged Cressotti to reduce the scope of the trail work and install a gate at Shaker Road where the trail has its only street crossing in Westfield.
“I support the trail but I have concerns about safety and security for the people using the trail,” Paul said.
Flaherty suggested that the city use part of the grant funds “to fix the road crossing at Shaker Road.”
Cressotti said that about $300,000 of the grant will be used to improve the Columbia Greenway between Orange Street and the Westfield River. The money will also be used to construct the first segment of the Riverwalk on the top of the Westfield River Levee between Sackett and Elm streets.
Renovation of the former railroad bridge over the Westfield River has been earmarked in the federal 2016 fiscal year which begins on Oct. 1 of 2015.
Cressotti said the state Department of Transportation has slated a public meeting for 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 13 on the design and scope of the railroad bridge renovation project which will link the Columbia Greenway with Women’s Temperance Park on the north shore of the Westfield River.
That public meeting will be immediately followed by an information meeting at which details of the next Columbia Greenway extension will be presented to residents of the city, especially to residents of neighborhoods abutting that segment of the trail.
