WESTFIELD—Those who have been inconvenienced by the detour on Paper Mill Road down Christopher Drive recently, you have about a month before it’s over.
According to Mark Cressotti, city engineer for Westfield, the deep sewer work being done for the Joseph Avenue Sewer Improvement Project has diverted traffic down Christopher Drive from Paper Mill Road. He admitted that the detour has been inconvenient and could last as long as four more weeks, but said that Paper Mill Road will be done after this detour.
“There’s no other way around, it’s not a convenient detour,” Cressotti said.
A portion of Little River Road that is without pavement due to sewer improvement efforts
“They are thinking about three or four weeks. Then once they finish this they will be done with Paper Mill Road,” he said.
In spite of the inconvenience though, ward six city councilor Bill Onyski, who is the councilor for the ward the work is occurring in, said that he is yet to hear from neighbors about issues pertaining to the detours or the project itself.
“It’s been fine, there’s been no complaints, at least to me. I think it was advertised pretty well and we had meetings beforehand,” Onyski said. “Residents knew it would be a mess and they were prepared for it.”
Ward six councilor Bill Onyski stands in front of construction equipment along Joseph Avenue
The “mess” so far has included portions of roads having its pavement removed, bumpy and uneven driving at times and construction equipment and work right beside homes. In a small tour of the area along Paper Mill Road, it can also be seen that grass along sidewalks has been removed.
However, Onyski said that this is expected to all be repaired or replaced when work is done. In addition, he said that the project will have an ancillary benefit of providing new pavement to portions of the area ravaged by potholes.
Also, Onyski said that the project is expected to benefit both the city and community because more homes will be on the city’s sewer system. This could mean less septic systems and the potential problems related to those, and increased revenue from sewer use, he said.
“The payoff for residents is pretty good, and good for the city, too,” Onyski said.
After the Paper Mill Road portion is complete, Cressotti said that work will then move to Joseph Avenue to finish the other half of that area, then to the dead-end portion of Christopher Drive.
He expects the project to continue through most of the construction season.
