MARK CRESSOTTI
WESTFIELD – City officials are meeting this morning in Worcester with the Columbia Greenway design team of VHB to discuss actions which can be taken to position the city for the next phase of rail trail construction.
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik said in late August that the city has been notified through the Executive Officer of Environmental Affairs that the funds will be made available for construction next summer.
City Engineer Mark Cressotti said this morning that the city “is putting everything we can in place” in anticipation of receiving that funding through the state’s Greenway Community grant program.
“I’ve been told by the Gateway Communities people that the money is real, but I can’t award that work until the money is in place,” Cressotti said. “I am moving to get the bid documents ready because we will have to move fast when the funds become available.”
RALPH FIGY
“Apparently the DOT is putting the $2 million toward the (Columbia) Greenway project because the city has received Gateway Communities grants (in the past) and has been successful in completing the work within the required timeframe,” Cressotti said recently.
The second part of the South Phase is now underway by ET&L Corporation which submitted the low bid of $2,297,538 to construct the next three quarters of a mile of the trail, work that includes extensive bridge work over Little River and South Meadow Road.
Work to complete the second part of the South Phase of the rail trail construction, extending the Columbia Greenway from just south of Little River to East Silver Street, is expected to be completed by the end of this month.
“The contractor is waiting for the bridge railing to come in, which should happen by the end of the month, and have some landscaping to do,” Cressotti said, “but I anticipate (the trail) will be opened to the public by the end of September.”
The city will “have to do public outreach” during the design of the next phase, extending the rail trail from East Silver Street to the area of Main Street, Cressotti said.
The scope of the work will be to extend the trail from East Silver Street to the area of Stop & Shop on Main Street. The next phase of construction will include installation of a new bridge, with a 14-foot-six-inch clearance, over East Silver Street and tunnel for a multiuse trail under the elevated railroad bed connecting the Hedges Avenue/St. Dennis Street neighborhood with the Taylor Avenue/Ashley Street neighborhood.
Ward 2 City Councilor Ralph Figy, in whose ward much of the trail is located, said that part of the planning process, for the proposed phase of work extending the trail to the area of Main Street, will include public comment.
“I’m advocating strongly for public meetings,” Figy said recently. “I have several issues pertaining to safety and privacy. I don’t want kids having to cross East Silver Street on bicycles to access the ramp up to the trail. I think we need to have access on both sides of East Silver Street.”
Figy said the location of the northern access from East Silver Street up to the trail, to complement the southern access ramp down to East Silver Street, constructed this summer, has yet to be identified.
Figy said the privacy issues have been raised with each new construction phase and will be addressed as the projects continue to proceed through the downtown neighborhoods.
