Westfield city engineer Mark Cressotti
WESTFIELD – The Engineering Department will be holding a public information session on three projects on Thursday, Nov. 8 at 6:30pm in Room 315 at City Hall. The projects, in various states of planning, are a traffic signal at 99 Springfield Road (Route 20), a traffic signal on Union St at Springdale Road and Paper Mill, and a discussion on a slip ramp at Interchange 3 on the turnpike.
The Springfield Road project is the furthest along. The work is proposed on Route 20 which is a State highway and requires a permit from MassDOT. The 25% Design was submitted to MassDOT in June of 2018 and is currently under review. The current schedule anticipates a construction start in the Spring of 2019.
Westfield Civil Engineer Mark Cressotti said the traffic signal on Springfield Road is in front of the Shortstop Restaurant, and involves widening the road and adding a center lane for turning. Cressotti said there are right of ways and acquisitions needed for this project, which he hopes to bid over the winter for spring construction. The 25% design plans for the $1 million MassWorks Infrastructure project are on the city website at www.cityofwestfield.org.
Map of proposed Springfield Road traffic signal, (cityofwestfield.org photo)
The design for the second signal on Union St. at Springfield Rd. is being funded by the city. Cressotti said they will have to seek construction dollars for this project, which he estimates will cost half a million dollars. He also said he doesn’t think they will have to widen the road, as there are two brooks in the area.
Cressotti said the third project is an idea the city is floating to add a slip ramp to ease traffic at Interchange 3. The city hired VHB (Vanesse Hangen Brustlin Inc.) engineers to do a study on the feasibility of using the slip ramp on the other side of 10-202, currently used as a maintenance road by MassDOT trucks to get on and off the highway, as an alternative access for east bound traffic.
Cressotti said the city is seeking public feedback on the idea at the Nov. 8 meeting.
